A New Light (The Age of Dawn Book 5)

by Everet Martins

  They only had raised shy of one hundred thousand marks, but would need at least eighty thousand more to pay Scab, by her math. She couldn’t conceive of a way to get more at the moment. She could figure it out, she knew. She just had to direct her mind to work out the proper solution. Why did everyone else’s problems become hers? Because this is the burden you placed upon your back when you declared yourself Arch Wizard, foolish girl, she answered herself.

  It was rumored by bandits and dreamers that the Tower had vaults filled with vast amounts of power diamond marks. Even if the rumors were true, she had no feasible way of accessing them. They hardly had the strength to withstand another attack, never mind a siege to take the Tower back.

  Nyset gasped at a light yet hurried rapping on her door. Was it too much to ask for an hour to herself? This had better not be Claw trying to check up on her again, she thought. “Just a moment,” she said. She approached the door, pushing her hair back over her ears, then raked her hand through it.

  She unlatched the door with a clink and cracked it open with a thump. She inwardly sighed at seeing Claw grinning at her, half his face slashed with a line of candlelight behind the door.

  “Thank you for checking on me, Claw, but I assure you I’m just fine.” She smiled.

  Claw’s grin grew wider. “You have a visitor, Mistress. Said she knows you. Said you’re old friends.”

  “A visitor? Old friends?” Who could it be? “Well alright, let her in then.” She embraced the Dragon as precautionary measure and Claw nodded his approval at her glowing eyes.

  “Come on,” Claw gruffly shouted over his shoulder and beckoned. That reminded her that she’d need to teach him a gentler way with guests. His hand fell to his sword hilt as the footsteps approached from down the hallway.

  A familiar face she couldn’t place came into view. “Good evening, Arch Wizard.” Recognition dawned with her dreamy voice and wistful smile. It was Lena, the woman who had proctored her initiation test for joining the Sisterhood of the Herbalists.

  “Lena! How are you? What are you doing here?” Nyset released the Dragon, came into her for a hug and Lena reciprocated. Nyset wiggled her nose at her overwhelming scent of patchouli. Her beaded dreadlocks draped over Nyset’s hands, leaving them feeling itchy.

  “Oh, I’m well.” Lena scratched her nose and the wooden bangles lining her forearms clacked together. She had dark circles under her eyes as if she hadn’t slept in days. Perhaps that was how she always looked? Nyset couldn’t remember.

  “So what brings you to the new Silver Tower? Do come in.” Nyset gestured into her office.

  Claw wrinkled his eyes at Lena’s back. Nyset nodded to him. “Thank you,” Nyset said. He grunted, turned, heading back down the hallway with his hand still clutching his sword hilt. Claw was usually more welcoming to guests, gruff and somewhat barbaric, but welcoming. Was there something she was missing? Nyset slid a simple chair from beside her bookshelf to one end of her desk.

  Lena gracefully sat in the chair with a lazy posture. Nyset sat across from her. “Moved here a few months ago. I closed the shop early today so I could come by and see you.”

  “Oh, wonderful. So you have a store in Helm’s Reach? I’m glad you came. I’ve been so busy, I almost forgot about the sisterhood. Would you like some tea? Elixir?” She had to remember she wasn’t the poor girl from Breden anymore, she was the Arch Wizard of the Silver Tower, damn it. There was something about Lena’s cool confidence she found unnerving.

  Lena snickered. “No, no thank you. That’s not surprising. It’s easy to forget about the sisterhood until you need something…” Her big-as-saucer eyes slowly rolled about the room.

  “Nice, isn’t it?” Nyset asked, turning to admire Grimbald’s exquisite craftsmanship. The crown moldings were perfectly lined up at the mitre cuts.

  “It’s beautiful.” Lena’s attention returned to her, regarding her flatly.

  “What did you say isn’t surprising?”

  “That you’ve forgotten about the sisterhood. It’s not surprising… since it must be a dreadfully tiring burden you’ve elected to take on.”

  Nyset shook her head and blew out her cheeks. “The work never ends. I’m growing into it, though. Perhaps even starting to like it.”

  “The Tower has always forgotten about us over the years.” Lena adjusted her flowing skirts over her knees.

  Was she petitioning for marks? Perhaps she didn’t know how crippled the Tower was now after the Death Spawn siege. “What brings you to Helm’s Reach?”

  “There are better… business opportunities here. The people less stiff, boring…” She rolled her hands, looking for the right words. “Less inhibited.”

  “I suppose you’re right about that.” Nyset thoughtfully tapped her upper lip. “There’s certainly no shortage of vagrants, bandits… and whores to satisfy every form of sexual proclivity. A wonderful place for the Silver Tower, really.” Nyset grinned.

  “Oh my.” Lena touched long fingers to a poorly woven shirt. “Is this speaking from experience?”

  Nyset felt the blood rush to her face. “Of course not, Lena!” She laughed.

  Lena chuckled. “Please do tell me, how did you come to don the robes of the Arch Wizard?”

  It felt good to laugh, Nyset thought. She needed to find ways to do it more often. Fleeting horrors flashed across her mind. The first was an armsman spitted upon a Cerumal’s grisly spear. The next was of an apprentice falling through the gray sky, arms and legs frantically working to stop her descent from a flying Shattered Wing’s claws. A Black Wynch growled, raised its talons and tore open a man’s neck. His blood sprayed out onto the old Silver Tower’s courtyard, shooting out an unearthly distance.

  “Nyset? Dear?” Lena was leaning forward in her chair, bushy eyebrows drawn.

  “Ah, yes, sorry. Some painful memories were dredged up at remembering that day.”

  “Which day was that?”

  Nyset sighed and an icy wave crawled down her skin. “The day the Tower fell. I was there during the siege, helped fight against the Death Spawn. It was… a terrible day for countless reasons.”

  “It must have been truly terrifying. I’m truly, truly sorry for your losses, dear. I can’t imagine…” Lena’s lips formed a hard line.

  Nyset sniffed, remembered witnessing what she thought was Walter’s death, but death was no longer final. Her notions of the possible had been shattered at his return. “Thank you, Lena.” Nyset took a deep breath and leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees and staring into the candle flames. “Arms Master Burtz sacrificed himself to save me and my friends. He was the trainer for the soldiers. We escaped through a tunnel that led out from the Tower’s practice yard. Thankfully, none of the Death Spawn went searching for us.” She looked up. “I’m rambling, sorry.”

  “How very fortunate for you,” Lena said, hands resting in her lap.

  “As far as I know, we were the only survivors. The former Arch Wizard was presumed dead… Earl Baraz came to meet us… I declared myself as the Arch Wizard, being one of the Tower’s last remaining wizards. And no one has objected so far.”

  “Hm.” Lena nodded and beads in her hair clicked. “You’ve taken a position of great power.”

  “I suppose.” Nyset’s eyes narrowed. “Why did you really come here, Lena?”

  Lena gasped and cringed as if she’d been insulted. “You do realize that we’re fighting the same fight, now that we’re sisters?”

  “I haven’t seen you, or anyone from the sisterhood in months. It’s just strange that you’re here now. I apologize, I didn’t intend to insult.”

  “Oh dear, don’t be sorry.” Lena eyed the anti-Phoenix pamphlet on her desk. “I see you’ve found some of my work.”

  “What?” Nyset arched an eyebrow. “This?” She wriggled the paper free from under her pouches and stood, holding it. “This is your doing?” She felt her heart thudding in her chest.

  “Well, not just me. The sisters too.” A
wicked smile crept across Lena’s face, dashing away the dreamy listlessness. For the first time, Nyset felt like she was seeing the real Lena.

  “But why? Why would you — all of you — do this? People are killing each other! Why would you try to make things worse?”

  “Business.” Lena shrugged.

  “Business?” Nyset’s anger welled and the Dragon filled her veins with the urge to destroy. “So you’re the ones stoking the fires of dissent. Give me a good reason why I shouldn’t incinerate you where you stand?”

  “You’re the Arch Wizard. You’re supposed to be fair. You have a reputation to uphold, duty, and honor, and all that. The answer to your question… for hundreds of years, the Tower has ignored us. We’ve petitioned to join your ranks time and time again, yet every time we’re rejected like common vagrants. It’s very simple, really. When the simpletons of this city quarrel about dead gods, people get hurt. When Dragon worshipers get hurt, they come to us for healing. We ease their pain with herbs… and business is good.”

  “Business,” Nyset scoffed. “You have to stop,” Her hands squeezed the edge of her desk. “There’s too much at stake. The city needs to run with some measure of harmony. What do you want?”

  “The same thing you want: respect. Give us a place here, beside you.”

  Nyset leaned back and stared up at the ceiling. If the Tower had denied them all these years, there had to be good reason. If she let the sisterhood in, who else would try to coerce her next and follow the sisterhood’s example? The highest rungs of the Tower were always led by those who were touched by the gods and it would remain that way. Tradition defined what the Tower was. It provided a steady rock the realm could always rely upon in a chaotic world. “I can’t do that. You can serve in the Tower—”

  “We will not serve,” hissed Lena.

  “If you’d let me finish, please, Lena.”

  “You-you think yourself so much higher, mightier, more important than all of us. I know what you’re going to say. We can work in the Tower, like your servants and your pigheaded soldiers?”

  Nyset blew out her cheeks and tilted her head. “What I offer—”

  Lena interrupted. “We don’t want your pittances. We—”

  “Shut up, Lena!” Nyset slammed the table and flames flared in her eyes. “Know your place and hold your tongue, or I shall burn it out.”

  Lena flinched and managed to make herself look surprisingly small in her chair.

  “Everything alright, Mistress?” Claw yelled through the door.

  “Fine,” she shouted back.

  Nyset waited a long minute, letting Lena get anything else out, but her mouth remained wisely closed.

  “What I offer you — you personally — is a place with my other advisors, but you alone. I like you, Lena, I can forgive your treachery but once.”

  “It’s not good enough. Expect the city to grow suddenly more restless.” Lena rose and brushed invisible particles from her clothes. She started for the door.

  A disc of fire sprang to life in front of Lena, a few inches from her neck. Lena staggered back and her eyes bulged at it. “No! What do you think you’re doing?”

  “Oh, no Lena. No, no, no. You march in here, try to coerce me? Has this ever worked for you before?” Lena opened her mouth but Nyset raised her hand to silence her. “You’ll take the offer and you’ll be most pleased with it. If you don’t, I will personally burn every last sister down to charred embers. I’ve killed Death Spawn by the hundreds, why not add a few old wenches to the list?”

  Lena swallowed and her eyes vibrated with rage. “I accept,” she croaked.

  “That’s very wise, Lena.” Nyset nodded at her, heart eager to burst through her chest. Her armpits swelled with nervy, stinky sweat. This was madness, what was she doing? Was this the right decision? Too late now. “If you try to cross me again, play any more games, do anything to make me suspect — I’ll come for you, Lena. In addition to ceasing the spread of deleterious propaganda, you’ll help us unify the city by making leaflets declaring how both the Dragon and Phoenix worshipers can work together.”

  “Yes, Nyset.”

  “That’s Mistress, for you.” Nyset tilted her chin up at her, palms tingling with sweat. She let the flaming disc dissipate into smoke tendrils.

  “What should the leaflets say?” Lena asked, voice trembling.

  “I don’t know. I’ll leave you to your creative devices, Lena,” Nyset said.

  “I’ll be going now,” Lena put her hand on the door’s handle. “Oh — there’s something else I wanted to tell you.”

  “Yes?” Nyset crossed her arms. There was always something else.

  “During your testing to join the sisters in Midgaard, I know you cheated.” She tugged the door free from the frame.

  “Huh? Wait — sorry, come back. What are you saying?”

  Lena sneered at her from over her shoulder. “Don’t play with me, Mistress. One of the other sisters had an Invocation Detector during your testing. It was glowing like a burning coal when you left. The plant I used for your testing wasn’t Fairymoss, which was your guess, but Sour Nightshade.”

  “I’m confused.” Nyset sat and rubbed her temples. She tugged on a wispy strand of brown hair with golden highlights.

  Lena turned to face her, hands planted on her hips. “The fact is you’re a cheater, a liar. You were unable to come up with the answer to my question on your own, so you used your dead god’s powers to make me say it was correct. You have no creativity, so you just take and steal what you think should be yours, but rightfully isn’t. Just like you did with the position you hold now,” she waved her wiry arm around the room. “You shouldn’t be a sister.”

  Nyset felt dizzy, like she’d gone far too long without food. “Walter…” she whispered. Had he used a Mind Eater to force Lena to say her answer was correct? No, he would never do something so vile. It was one of the forbidden spells, but did he know that? Perhaps not.

  “This is a grave accusation, Lena. You’re sure you had an Invocation Detector activated, glowing during my testing?”

  “My sisters would not lie to me, at least.” She narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms. “It is true what they say… the people who rise to the top have to step on a lot of bodies to get there, isn’t it?”

  A Mind Eater could only be conjured by a man or someone who could use the Phoenix, and the only man in the shop with her then was Walter. She wanted very badly for him to be there so she could throttle him. “I assure you that if there was foul play, I had nothing to do with it.” She met Lena’s eyes. “If you’d rather I not be in the sisterhood and feel I don’t belong, by all means, take it back.” Nyset slipped a necklace with a simple wooden ring from around her neck and placed it on the desk. Lena had it given to her almost a year ago at the end of the initiation ceremony. It had become part of her, though her dealings with the sisterhood were rare.

  Lena snorted. “No. What’s done is finished. The past is dead, the future, the now is all that exists. Where shall I move in?” She beamed with too much exultation.

  “You’re sure you want to work for a liar and cheat?”

  “I’m sure. Better than any offer the Tower has made us in the past,” Lena muttered. “It’s a start for us.”

  “I think I know why your mind was influenced during my testing. I’ll get to the bottom of it, I assure you it was not me. Lena, you do understand the importance of the city being at peace and working together, don’t you?”

  “Yes, yes. Don’t worry… my part in it is over. Besides, with all the wounded after the last battle, there’s plenty of work anyway…”

  “Can you help us now? Instead of spreading hate, could you perhaps print something encouraging the Dragon and Phoenix worshipers to work together?”

  Lena twisted a dreadlock between her fingers. “I’ll see what I can come up with.”

  Nyset sighed and slipped the necklace back on. Truthfully, she liked being a member of another group, even if sh
e took little part in it. It was nice to feel included. “There’s another office across the hall. No one else wanted it, so you may use it. Welcome.” She offered her hand and Lena took it.

  “Great, excellent!” Lena slapped her thighs. “I’ll get my things together and set myself up here tomorrow, if that suits you fine.”

  “That’s alright with me. Tell Claw on your way out; he’s the guard you met earlier.” Nyset sat and watched the herbalist leave. “The days are never dull, that is certain,” she said to herself and slumped into her chair, closing her eyes.

  Some time passed, maybe fifteen minutes. Claw’s distinctive knocking struck the door, startling her from the beginnings of a nap. “Mistress?”

  She groggily groaned, rose up to her feet and stretched her arms out overhead. “What is it, Claw?”

  “Got another visitor.” His voice was muffled through the heavy door.

  “Let her in then.” She waved, then realized no one could see her gesturing.

  “It’s a man, an old one,” Claw said. “Says he knew Walter and your late friend Baylan.”

  She groaned with weariness. “Let him in then.”

  The door creaked open and a squat old man shuffled his way into her office. She didn’t recognize him. The man wore blue threadbare robes with brown spots, maybe wine or blood stains. He had a long beard she suspected was once white, now brown with dirt and in dire need of a brushing. The top of his head was bald with grayish tufts around the edges.

  “Good evening. Nyset Camfield, Arch Wizard of the Silver Tower.” She offered her hand.

  “It’s a great pleasure to finally meet the new Arch Wizard.” He smiled with a few teeth yellow as gold. He shook her hand and squeezed it with a hidden strength. “I am… heh, I suppose former House Master Grozul, of the House of the Phoenix.” He dropped into the chair across from her as if his muscles didn’t have the strength to hold him up any longer.

  “House of the…” Nyset’s jaw fell open. “You’re alive. But how did you escape?”