I turned my head toward Councilor Theas. “He’s alive.”
“We were very lucky.” Councilor Theas knelt down at his side.
“No,” My voice replied. “He chose to be merciful.”
My vision froze after that, shifting in a blinding instant back to my own eyes.
I turned the gem over in my hand, trembling as I considered what I’d just seen.
Keras was there to meet with Tenjin, and they tried to arrest him. It follows that the ambush probably made Keras unhappy with everyone involved.
And Tenjin has been missing for weeks now.
Resh. Did Keras hurt one of the visages?
That would certainly explain why he was imprisoned in the tower if it was the case.
I frowned.
And Mother was there.
Mother fought against Keras, and she handled herself better than any of the others did. I knew she could fight, but… That was pretty impressive.
When’d she get a second attunement?
That last part didn’t really matter. I was glad she’d made it out of there alive, but I’d barely talked to my mother since she’d left. While I certainly felt a pang of fear for her when I’d seen her there, now I was more interested in why she was involved.
She clearly knew more about Keras than I did if she’d was involved in an attempted arrest.
I was nowhere near ready to reconcile with my mother after years apart, but this gave me a very good reason to write her a letter. I needed all the information I could get.
Dear Mother,
It’s been too long since we last spoke. Unfortunately, this letter is less about personal matters and more about a pressing concern.
I have recently become peripherally involved in a situation regarding a man named Keras Selyrian. I understand that you have also been somewhat involved in this matter, and thus, I would like to discuss things with you — either by missive or in person, at your discretion.
In specific, I am seeking any information about his present location and disposition. I hope you will be able to provide me with some insight.
I also hope you are well.
-Corin
I handed the letter off at the courier station, paid them, and headed back to my room to ruminate for a bit.
It felt a little cold for the first message I’d sent to my mother in years. Still, she hadn’t exactly gone out of her way to see me, so any obligation I felt was tinged with bitterness.
When evening came, I dropped the memory crystal off in the spot Jin had indicated.
I had more questions than ever about this. Hopefully, my mother would have answers. In the meantime, I did have one more person I could ask.
“Professor Orden, can we talk?”
Orden frowned at me, pushing a lock of dark hair out of her eyes. “Back so soon?”
I closed the door behind me before responding. “I have information to discuss,” I said, turning back to her. “Can we speak in a safe location?”
She sighed. “Very well.”
She walked over, placing a hand on my shoulder and muttering the words to her “Veiled Teleport” spell.
We appeared in that strange empty white space she’d taken me to before. My stomach still lurched as we teleported, but not quite as badly as last time. Maybe I was starting to acclimate to it a bit.
“Well?” Orden folded her arms.
“I managed to obtain a bit of information on Keras. He was in a confrontation with members of the House of Lords, who attempted to arrest him.”
Orden gave me an approving nod. “You managed to discover that a bit faster than I expected. Found out from your mother, I assume?”
I shook my head, only in the aftermath of making the gesture realizing that maybe I should have claimed that as my method. Well, too late now. “I obtained and watched a memory crystal of the event.”
She lifted an eyebrow. “Fascinating. I wonder how you managed such a thing? Oh, don’t tell me and spoil the fun. I’ll figure it out. I appreciate the update, but I knew about that event. Did you discover anything you think was relevant?”
“Well, he claimed to be there to meet with Tenjin, but the council stepped in to have him arrested.” I thought about that for a moment, then reconsidered. “Or, I should say, a few members of the council. I imagine that couldn’t have been everyone.”
“Quite right.” Orden folded her hands in front of her. “The Council of Lords currently has forty-five seats. That was a small affair that I believe the Adjutant arranged in cooperation with Dalenos’ authorities.”
Forty five seats? That was more good information for me to keep in mind for the future. “I wasn’t quite clear on that. They mentioned something about heresy?”
“Keras fled arrest in Dalenos after he made a public speech about the visages deceiving the populace about the state of the outside world.”
Yeah, that’d definitely count as heresy. “In what way did he claim the people were being deceived?”
“I didn’t hear all of it,” Orden admitted, “But it had something to do with the Tyrant in Gold not being as controlling as everyone thinks.”
Oh, dear. “I’m half-surprised that Katashi didn’t fly down and smite him on the spot.”
Professor Orden chuckled. “Well, it seems it did come to that eventually, didn’t it?”
“Or something like it. We still haven’t heard anything about what happened after the fight I witnessed… unless you have?”
She shook her head. “No, I don’t have any news on that subject. I will inform you if I discover anything pertinent, however.”
“Thank you. One more question, since you were already familiar with the incident I mentioned. Was that before Tenjin stopped showing up to Council meetings?”
“Right before,” she confirmed. “If you’re thinking that Keras went after Tenjin after he escaped and attacked him, that would be the prevailing hypothesis.”
Resh. And I’m the one that let Keras go free.
That means I have an obligation to help stop him if I can.
“Thank you, Professor. That’s all I needed to know.”
My class the next day was Mana Manipulation, one of the two classes on my schedule that was only assigned to Enchanters. I was still distracted thinking about Keras and worrying about my mother, but the class was interesting enough to help get my mind off of it to some extent.
The best part was right at the beginning.
Professor Edlyn, the same teacher I’d signed my paperwork with right when I came out of the tower, was in charge of the class. She started us out with a simple instruction.
“Close your eyes and put your hand over wherever your attunement is located. Now, take a deep breath, and think about the passage of the mana within your body. If you’ve ever used a runic item, think about how that mana flows out of you into the object. If not, simply try to picture a flow of energy within your body, emanating from your attunement mark.”