“Gavin, please,” Valera said. “Tauron wanted to decide the matter then and there. It was an uphill battle, just to get him and those siding with him to postpone the matter until this afternoon. What I and those siding with me could not prevent was Tauron pushing this into a public session. All classes are canceled this afternoon, with the entire student body and any interested arcanists encouraged to attend. He aims to humiliate you in front of as many members of the Society as he can arrange, Gavin.”
“Well, now,” Gavin said, “that sounds like he’s making this whole affair personal.”
Valera shrugged. “I think he’s still angry over the interactions following the viewing of Marcus’s will.”
“He was wrong then, Valera, and he’s wrong now. If he wants to put on this farce in the public view, I sincerely hope he’s considered the possibility of it not going his way.”
“Gavin,” Valera said, her voice tired, “how can it end otherwise? Most of the Council sides with him more often than not, and you would not believe the amount of negotiation I have to do just to hold some semblance of a line.”
Gavin sat in silence for a few moments before he took a breath and said, “Valera, all I ask of you is that you act according to your conscience. It seems to me doing otherwise only serves to corrupt the Council.”
“You need all the friends you can get right now, Gavin,” Valera said. “The emissaries from the Guild want us to turn you over to them.”
Gavin laughed. “I can tell you right now that won’t happen. You see, I’ve been doing some recreational reading. According to the Arcanists’ Code, a document that cannot be modified without the consent of the Archmagister, naming a wizard of the Great Houses a renegade requires a unanimous vote of the Conclave of the Great Houses…just so the Council can discuss the matter and hold their own vote. You would not like the options the Code gives the Great Houses in the event the Council chooses to carry out such a discussion and vote anyway.”
Valera sagged and put her head in her hands for several moments. She said, “Gavin, you’re pushing us into a civil war within the Society. We’re already fragile enough as it is!”
“Valera, you yourself just said moments ago that the Council is fractured, factionalized, and fragmented. To me, that sounds like you might as well say ‘ineffective,’ and be done with it. Perhaps, it’s time to shake things up a bit. Besides, Tauron doesn’t have the conviction to carry things through to a civil war; he’s too much of a coward. For that matter, I would challenge him and his cronies to duels in the arena long before anything exploded into outright fighting.”
Valera rubbed her forehead with her hands for several moments, before she lifted her head to face Gavin. “The hearing is scheduled to begin at the first bell after mid-day. You should be seated in the lower gallery and wait for us to summon you to the floor.”
“Thank you, Valera,” Gavin said as he rose to his feet. “I’ll see you this afternoon.”
Gavin was just closing the door when he heard a heavy exhalation from within, followed by Valera saying, “I don’t care what Tauron says; Marcus was never this disruptive.”
Chapter 41
Gavin tracked down Declan as soon as he left Valera’s office. Declan was sitting in the gardens, plucking at a full-bodied lute.
“Gavin,” Declan said as Gavin approached, “what do you need?”
“I want to believe the Council will do the right thing today, but I’m not confident they will. Get word to the others. I want everyone prepared to begin punitive operations against the Guild upon my order.”
“Gavin, for something like this, you should not give ambiguous orders. What is your intent for the Guild?”
“If I give the order, I want them wiped out. I will not stand for them to threaten the Society-or prey on the people of Tel-any longer. If the Compact is no longer in force, I can give that order.”
Declan nodded, saying, “Very well. I’ll arrange for people to be in the gallery who can serve as messengers. Your word is our will.”
The magisters picked their seats around the table, Valera sitting at the apex of the horseshoe. The three guests sat in the first three seats of the gallery nearest the door they had entered, and Gavin saw that same row gradually empty as more and more arcanists found seating elsewhere.
The ringing of a large bell echoed through the Chamber. Valera nodded and tapped a section of the table beside her left hand. Gavin felt an instant change in the ambient power. Strong Tutation and Transmutation effects were now active. The doors leading into the chamber now had two points of red light on each of the top corners.
“It is my duty as Eldest of the Council to call this assembly to order,” Valera said. When she started speaking, the rune that symbolized Divination appeared above her head. “The Council of Magisters hereby recognizes Tauron, Magister of Evocation and Chief Inquisitor.”
Tauron stood. As with Valera, the rune that symbolized Evocation appeared above his head when he began to speak. “Yesterday, just shortly before the evening bell, one of our number disregarded an agreement that has protected us for ages. The Society of the Arcane now sits on the brink of a war with the Guild of Shadows, and we must deliberate before deciding what course we will take. I now call upon Gavin Cross-”
“Point of order,” another voice said, interrupting Tauron. The rune of Tutation appeared above the head of the sole elf on the Council.
Tauron glared at the elf. “Yes? What is it, Kantar?”
“Is the individual not a wizard?”
“Yes,” Tauron said, his teeth clenched, “he is a wizard.”
“And is he not the Head of his House?”
Red began creeping up Tauron’s neck as he continued to glare at Kantar. He said, “Yes, he is.”
“Is it not Society policy that wizards who are Heads of their House be announced, addressed, and otherwise referred to as their House in all official circumstances?”
Gavin watched Tauron’s entire face turn an alarming shade of red as the base of his neck took on just a hint of purple.
“I now call upon Kirloth to stand before the Council,” Tauron said, his teeth clenched through the entire statement.
Gavin stood to the accompaniment of a rush of whispers and walked to the recessed area to stand before the Council. The moment he stepped into the recessed area, the glyph of Kirloth appeared in the air above his head. The fervent whispering in the galleries intensified.
“Well, Tauron, is this going to be a theatrical farce, or is the Council honestly interested in the truth?” Gavin asked.
Valera closed her eyes and angled her head down just a bit, and tensions were so high that no one noticed a shadow fading into existence just beside the Archmagister’s dais.
“You will be silent until you are given the floor,” Tauron said, spraying spittle onto the table with the force of his words. “The Council now calls the representatives of the Guild of Shadows.”
The three individuals Gavin didn’t recognize stood and walked down to the oval, two men and one woman. They stood a short distance away from Gavin. All three wore worn leather armor, like the would-be murderer the day before. Gavin could tell from the individuals’ position and posture that the older man in the center held all the power. The woman looked just a bit envious when she looked at her superior, while the young man opposite her stared at Gavin.
“The Council has already heard a report of the incident,” Tauron said, “and we are prepared to-”
“Point of order,” Kantar said, interrupting Tauron again.
“Fine,” Tauron said, almost spitting out the word. “Does Kirloth have anything to say regarding this matter?”