“You are the herald of the chaos that’s on the verge of overwhelming this plane,” Walbert said. “Your arrival on Regatha threatens to usher in an era of ungoverned madness here.”
“I just came here to study and learn,” Chandra said. “Not to, er, herald and usher.”
“I knew you would come, and you did,” Walbert said. “I knew you would return, with or without Gideon, and you did. I knew you wouldn’t leave again, even though you could have left-and, indeed, should have.” He nodded. “You are the one whom I have seen in my visions, and it’s your destiny to change everything here.”
“No, it’s not,” she said firmly. “We each make our own destiny, and the only destiny I ever intended to have here-”
“Intended? You aren’t in control of your destiny,” Walbert said contemptuously. “You flow with your impulses and bounce erratically off your own emotions. I have seen you in the Purifying Fire, and I know who you are.”
“Fine,” she said in exasperation, “so your visions told you a fire-wielding planeswalker would come to Regatha and cause trouble.”
“No, an earthquake is trouble, Chandra,” Walbert said. “You are a cataclysm.”
“A cataclysm? Oh, for-”
“I have known ever since I first bonded with the power of the Purifying Fire that this day must come. I have seen in my visions how dangerous you are, what a deadly threat you are to the Order and our goals.”
“Goals like ruling the forests and the mountains?” she said sharply. “Dominating all the mages of Regatha with your own rules, your own-”
“You came to Regatha to destroy everything I have built,” Walbert said darkly. “You came here to prevent me from bringing peace and harmony to this plane.”
“I told you why I came here,” she snapped.
“You are the kindling of the cataclysm that I have foreseen,” he said with solemn certainty, “and I must stop you.”
“Your notion of a cataclysm sounds like other people’s idea of restoring balance to Regatha,” she said. “Or being left alone to pursue their own goals instead of submitting to yours.”
“I have prepared for this day for many years,” Walbert said, “and tonight I will begin a new era on Regatha. One that is free of the destruction that threatens us here.”
Gideon asked, “What are you going to do?”
He had been silent for so long, they both reacted as if one of the chairs had spoken.
Then Walbert recovered his composure and said, “I will give her to the Purifying Fire.”
Fire won’t kill her.” Gideon’s voice was quiet and without expression.
“As I said, I don’t intend to kill her,” said Walbert.
“What will happen in the Purifying Fire?” Gideon asked.
“It will cleanse her.”
“Cleanse me of what?” said Chandra.
“Of your power. It will purify you,” Walbert said with evident devotion. “The Purifying Fire will eliminate the destructive poison of fire magic from your existence. It will forever sever your bond with the corrupting force of red mana.”
“You’re taking away my power?” Chandra said, appalled. “I don’t understand. Why don’t you just kill me?”
“Because once you’re stripped of your power, you’ll be an example for others.”
“An example?” she repeated.
“You are the most powerful fire mage on this plane,” Walbert said. “And I will take away your power.”
“She’ll be bound to this plane,” Gideon said.
“Yes,” said Walbert, holding Chandra’s gaze. “No more planeswalking. You’ll spend the rest of your life on Regatha. Powerless. Defeated. Subject to my will.”
“No,” Chandra said, a sick dread washing through her. She had anticipated death, not being stranded for life on just one plane, robbed of her power and with no reason to live.
He ignored her outburst. “I won’t have to challenge the Keralians or invade the mountains again. They will see you stripped of all power and utterly impotent, and they will realize what they risk by continuing to oppose me. And so they will submit to the rule of the Order.”
“No, they won’t!”
“They will. I have foreseen it,” he said with cold satisfaction. “The woodlanders will see you, too, vanquished and humbled, and they will understand that the Order must not be thwarted or disobeyed any longer.”
“I thought I was coming here to die!” Chandra said angrily. “I agreed to be executed, not… violated, humiliated, and put on display!”
“Your message didn’t mention execution as a condition of our agreement,” Walbert said. “As far as your part of our bargain goes, you said you would surrender to my custody. And that was all you said.”
“I didn’t say that I’d allow you to feed me to the Purifying Fire!”
“The ceremony will take place tonight,” Walbert said. “I have a great deal to do before then, so this conversation is over.”
“I won’t let you do this me, Walbert!”
He ignored her again as he shouted, “Guards!”
“No!” As the door behind her opened, Chandra leaped forward and threw herself across the desk at the old mage.
Alarmed, Walbert tried to evade her, but the speed and force of her attack shoved him back into his chair as he started to rise from it. She punched him in the face as footsteps thundered into the room. Chandra got her fingers on his throat and began squeezing just as several pairs of hands seized her. She kicked, bit, punched, and screamed threats as the soldiers pulled her off the high priest and subdued her.
Walbert tried to speak. He choked, coughed, and tried again, successfully. “Bring her hands together,” he instructed the soldiers.
They did-with some difficulty, since Chandra continued struggling violently.
Walbert covered her wrists with his hands and closed his eyes, breathing deeply. Chandra felt something cool encircling her flesh, and she looked down to see a thick, shining white coil binding her wrists together, in addition to the shimmering sheath that already covered her flesh.
With her wrists bound together and four men holding her back, she tried to attack Walbert again. It was futile, but she was too enraged to give up.
Walbert turned to Gideon, who still hadn’t moved, and said angrily, “Were you just going to stand there and watch her kill me?”
Gideon shrugged. “You’ve got guards.”
Chandra was still kicking, struggling, and shouting when they dragged her from the room.
She was alone in a locked chamber, with her wrists still bound, when he came to her.
Chandra’s stomach clenched when the door to the chamber opened. Were they coming to get her for Walbert’s ceremony? There was one small window in this room, high up on the wall, so she knew that night had fallen some time ago.
When he entered the darkened room and closed the door behind him, she asked, “Is it time?”
“Not yet,” Gideon said. “Soon, though.”
“If you’ve come to tell me you didn’t know what he would do,” Chandra said coldly, “I’m not in-”
“That’s not why I came.”
“Then why are you here?”
“To tell you there may be a way out,” he said.
She blinked. “You’ll help me escape?”
“No,” he said. “That’s not possible.”
“Of course it’s possible,” she snapped. “All we have to do is-”
“It’s not possible without killing a lot of people,” he said. “So the answer is no, Chandra.”
She looked at the faintly glinting metal of the sural that was coiled at his belt. “Then kill me now.”
In the dim light, she could see him shake his head.
“Please, Gideon.” She heard the pleading in her voice and hated it, so she didn’t say more.
He shook his head again.
She looked away.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I just… can’t.”
Chandra shrugged, gazing at the floor. “Maybe someone else will.” And she would do her best to encourage them.
“There may be another way,” he said.
When he didn’t continue, she looked at him again. “Well?”
“I’d have come sooner, but I’ve been with the Keepers. And since I didn’t want to arouse their suspicion, it took time. I had to be… circumspect about my questions.”