Page 115 of The Study of Fire
“Leuel, let him in,” Gale said. “That’s Valek.”
The Councilor reached out and grabbed his hand, shaking it. “Thank you so much for rescuing my wife.”
“It was a mutual rescue. She fought bravely today.”
“That’s my lady. Come in, come in. What can we do for you?”
If he’d knocked on his door a day ago, Leuel would have called the warpers to arrest Valek.My how times have changed.
“Gale, do you still have those glass animals Yelena gave you?”
“Oh, I forgot all about them. I’ll get them for you.” She hurried from the living area.
“We sent a message to Kell Greenblade that it is safe to bring the children home,” Leuel said. “It will be a big relief for all the councilors. We’ve all learned a valuable lesson to not leave our families unprotected.”
Gale returned with the three statues.
“Can you access the magic inside?” Valek asked.
“I can, but I can only use it to enhance my magic, which doesn’t include mental communication.” She handed them to him.
He thanked her and returned to the Keep. Irys and Bain stood near the glen, overseeing the gruesome task of collecting the bodies. Valek gave Irys the statues, and she promised to distribute them.
“We’re going to set up a schedule,” Irys said. “With six of us, we can each try to contact Yelena once an hour. That’s every ten minutes during the day. Since I’m a night owl, I’ll try while the others are sleeping.”
“Thank you. Also, thanks for the offer to stay in your tower. Could I bunk in Yelena’s old room in the Apprentices’ wing instead? It’s right next to the bonfire.”
“Of course. No one has been assigned that unit this term.” She glanced at the wings which bookended the glen like a set of parentheses. “There are only a few apprentices left. Since they were more of a threat than the new students, the warpers targeted them first.” Irys rubbed her eyes.
“We’re having a council session tomorrow morning,” Bain said. “You are invited to attend.”
“Ambush?” Valek asked with a smile.
“Not this time. Unless you plan to carry out the Commander’s orders to assassinate us?”
Ah, yes. Just because Bain had been paralyzed with Curare, didn’t mean he couldn’t hear. “I do not. And the Commander has no interest in taking over Sitia. It’s just that when it became apparent you’d lost control, he worried the warpers would attack Ixia. With good reason, because that’s exactly what they planned. Did you know about the snake?”
Irys and Bain glanced at each other.
“What snake?” Irys asked.
Valek explained about the present the Commander had received.
Irys’s shoulders drooped. “He’ll never trust us again. So much for reestablishing a relationship with Ixia.”
“I don’t know. The Commander is rather sensible. Plus, the person responsible for the breakdown of communications has been caught and will be executed. That will definitely help.”
“Roze fooled us all,” Bain said. “We knew she hated Ixia and feared you and the Commander, but we had no idea she’d go to such lengths to gain enough power to launch an offensive on Ixia. I just started investigating, but it appears she’d been scheming for decades. She might have been working with Kangom when he’d kidnapped those Sitian children and smuggled them into Ixia all those years ago.”
Kangom was also known as Mogkan, and one of those children he’d snatched had been Yelena. Valek’s stomach clenched. If Mogkan hadn’t taken her, Valek would have never met her.
“Did you find out how Roze convinced the Sandseeds to become Daviians?” Irys asked.
“Roze’s mother was born a Sandseed. She left the clan for unknown reasons. Eventually, she married Roze’s father, Julian, and they settled in the Featherstone lands where Roze was born. Due to that blood connection to the Sandseeds, the protective magic has no effect on Roze. With her mother’s family still living in the Avibian Plains, Roze managed to recruit a number of dissatisfied clan members to join her.” Bain sighed. “It’s going to take us months to untangle all her lies and schemes.”
“As the Commander is fond of saying, power corrupts. You’ll need to be more vigilant in the future, First Magician,” Valek said.
Bain jerked in surprise. “I neverwanted,nor did I everexpectto become First Magician.”
