During the Callium Imperatus Schism there was substantial involvement from the cities' syndicates in the events that took place. It is unknown how much of this activity could be attributed to the direction of one of the involved magic guilds, or because the syndicates had their own agendas. However, after the forced disbanding of Chyn Kotia, who relied heavily on the services of the Luria Syndicate, the present-day magic guilds shed themselves of these underworld ties—save for Hyna.

  Excerpt from 'Magic Guilds of Rios: The Age of Enlightenment'

  Karan rubbed some more ointment into his feet. The swelling had dissipated a few days earlier, but the soreness remained and the ointment helped to take the edge off the pain.

  He recalled how much of it he had rubbed into his feet after his short walk from the Resting Sailor back to the haunt. Or, at least, he thought it was a short walk, as once again every memory from the moment he left the Resting Sailor to the moment he stepped inside the haunt had vanished.

  I really need to find out how they do that.

  After applying the last lick, Karan closed the small ointment jar with a satisfied smile and leaned back against his pillow, allowing his bare feet to soak up the ointment's numbing warmth.

  He felt pleased with himself. The meeting with the Daughters of Ashira last night had gone as well as he could have hoped for.

  Initially he had wanted to contact the Lyceum instead of the Daughters, as the attraction of the knowledge contained in the White Candle spelltomes would have a greater effect on them. They would also be more willing to overlook his previous guild affiliation.

  After mulling it over, however, he realized that while the Lyceum would be easier to ensnare, they lacked the resolve Karan needed. They were scholars and nothing more, and as such any active involvement on their part would be near non-existent.

  The Daughters, however, had already shown their resolve by starting a vendetta. Their hatred of Callium would aid Karan, provided it didn't extend to him personally, so in the end the choice had been easy.

  After he had written the invitation for a meeting at the Resting Sailor Inn, he wondered whom to address it to. Tayla Kannados wasn't an option, unfortunately. Karan had met her a few times socially and found her to be an enigmatic woman. An attractive trait for an already attractive woman, but it made it impossible to tell if she would accept Karan's proposal or have him arrested instead. She didn't seem like the type to get willingly involved in shady dealings either.

  Instead he chose to send a letter to the person who had led the vendetta, as he assumed that she at least would be willing to get her hands dirty. He even addressed the letter as such because at the time he could not recall the magistra's name.

  Maria Seleny, Karan thought, remembering the meeting. She seems suitable.

  At the start of the meeting Karan had been uncertain if he had made the right decision, but as the meeting advanced he became more confident, despite Magistra Seleny's accurate observations about his identity. She was a sharp woman, that much was certain, and she had the mindset Karan needed—at several points she had seemed positively eager for the chance to rip Callium's throat out. The other magistra displayed no such thing, however, instead looking either at her scrying stone or at Karan with an expression that hovered between distrust and disagreement.

  That one might be trouble, Karan thought. I need to make certain that they are really going to go ahead with this.

  But planning for the next meeting would have to wait for the moment. Siella had informed him this morning that there was a visitor coming for him. The Luria Syndicate had finally got around to sending the rune appraiser they promised, and Karan was looking forward to the meeting. Even though he wasn't looking to move haunts, he was curious to know what the runes he had with him were worth on the black market, and more importantly, he needed the coin. The arrangement at the Restless Sailor had cost him most of his coin on hand, and for what he was planning he would need a good deal more.

  He slipped into his soft slippers and made his way downstairs where he found everything was quiet. Gieltje was sitting next to a window in the living room, reading a thin book, and Siella was busy in the kitchen doing something that involved the occasional slushing sounds of running water.

  “Moeke isn't here?” Karan asked Gieltje.

  Gieltje looked up from his book. “She went out.”

  Karan nodded and did not enquire any further. Gieltje was a tight-lipped individual, never saying anything more than he had to. In fact, Karan wasn't even certain if Gieltje was part of the haunt's permanent residents like Moeke and Siella, or whether he was someone in hiding like Karan.

  Karan seated himself at the empty dinner table and opened a cloth that held the runestones he was willing to part with. With a soft tinkling, the stones spilled out of the cloth over the table, causing one to almost fall to the floor. He grabbed it and placed it next to the others, thinking about a possible arrangement for them.

  Sort by dyad? Or perhaps by rarity?

  He spent some time ordering the stones, picking up each one in turn and adding a bit of charge to some of them. While casting any spells was still forbidden, Moeke had allowed him to at least charge the stones that used a sigil so he could verify they weren't damaged.

  A loud knocking reverberated through the house. In the kitchen the sounds of water stopped and Siella appeared to open the front door. A few moments later the appraiser Karan was waiting for entered the room. The man was short with a round face. A crown of dark-grey hair ran around a shining bald spot, and his eyes were small, giving him an untrustworthy appearance. The clothes he wore were of simple cotton, a shirt and trousers, and as the appraiser approached the dinner table, Karan noticed that the man seemed uncomfortable wearing them.

  “Greetings, Magister De Ekkar,” the appraiser said with a short bow. “I was sent here by the Luria Syndicate to appraise your runestones.” He gestured towards the runestones on the table. “But I see you were already expecting me. My name is Niel.”

  Karan gave him an odd look. His name is Niel as well?

  “Is there a problem?” Niel the appraiser asked, seating himself opposite Karan.

  “No,” Karan said. “I was merely recalling that the previous visitor from your organization has the same name.”

  “Ah, yes,” Niel said with a curt nod. “I understand your confusion.” He coughed in his hand with a sound that made Karan's face twitch in a brief display of disgust. “I am not him, however.”

  “I can see that,” Karan replied, restoring his face to a polite smile. The name is only an alias.

  “Well,” Niel said, spreading out his hands. “Let's see what we have here then.”

  During the next hour, Karan explained what every stone did and Niel informed him how much every one of them was worth. Unfortunately, their worth turned out to be not nearly as much as Karan had anticipated. His dissatisfaction clearly showed by the time the last runestone passed through Niel's hands.

  The appraiser had produced a piece of paper which he used to scribble every price down. He ran through the written numbers and made his final calculation.

  “Seventeen regals, one half-regal, two thalers and three florins. So let's say eighteen regals.”

  Karan's temper flared. “That's not even a quarter of what these stones are worth,” he said, a hint of anger in his voice.

  “I'm sure you understand that the fact these are stolen goods reduces their price significantly.”

  Karan grabbed a dark ochre-coloured stone. “This rune isn't even on the market yet. It alone should be worth over fifteen regals.” He was near fuming now. Does this man think I'm an idiot?

  “While you are correct,” Niel said with an unflinching face, “a spell that condenses water from air isn't much use to our typical buyer. They do not travel a lot, you see.”

  Karan grasped the stone tightly, pressing the edges into his flesh. Eighteen regals was by no means a small amount of coin, but he had already learned how expensive the underworld could be. The thought of being cheated like this didn't appeal to him either. While as a fugitive he couldn't afford to be picky, he had to draw the line somewhere.

  “I won't settle for less than seventy regals,” Karan said, having regained control of his voice.

  “I'm sorry, that will not be possible unless you have some additional runes for me to look at. Runestones that contain more... forceful spells tend to be valued much more by our customers.”

  Karan regarded Niel coldly. He indeed possessed some runes that contained more 'forceful' spells, as Niel called it. However, he wasn't willing to part with them. Not because he expected to have need for them any time soon, but rather because the thought of them leaving his hands made him uncomfortable. Even though Callium did engage in the sale of such runestones, selling to organizations within Rios was off limits.

  Furthermore, Karan had not forgotten the experience he suffered at the White Candle and he briefly imagined smelling the stench of burned corpses again.

  “This is everything I'm willing to part with,” he eventually said.

  “Then there is nothing more I can do for you.”

  Karan stared at the stones in front of him. How badly do I really need these?

  The answer to that was simple. He didn't. Any coin he could get in exchange for them would be more useful to him regardless of the amount, yet the mere thought of accepting the appraiser's ridiculous offer made Karan seethe.

  He spent a few moments balancing his rational needs against his anger, while running the condensation runestone through his fingers.

  Niel coughed once more and then spoke. “If you are unwilling to sell any of your runestones, then perhaps you have something else to offer.”

  Karan raised his eyes from the runestone he held and stared at Niel. “Like what?”

  “Information,” Niel said simply, fishing a small runestone out of his tunic. “You are in a unique position to tell us some things we would like to know. Things regarding White Candle.”

  Niel grasped the small runestone in a way that suggested he was charging it with ?ther.

  Is he going to cast something? Well, feel free. It's not me breaking the house rule. Karan leaned back in his chair and waited for something to happen.

  A slight tremble went through Niel's fingers and Karan recognized it as the feedback pulse that signified the sigil was charged.

  “What's that?” Karan asked.

  Niel placed the runestone on the table. “A voicesphere.”

  Of course. I should have realized.

  Karan glanced sideways at Gieltje, who was still sitting nearby, seemingly engrossed in his book. Despite that, Karan was convinced that Gieltje had been following the conversation closely. How is he going to respond to the sudden silence?

  “You already cast the spell?”

  “I did.”

  “Are you aware that magic usage isn't allowed here?”

  “I obtained permission beforehand.”

  “Is that so?” Karan said with a slight hint of disbelief. Well, whatever. It's not my problem. “So what exactly is this information you are willing to pay me for?”

  “We would very much like to hear about everything you did at the White Candle and what you discovered about its owners' disappearance.”

  As I suspected. “And how much would this information be worth to you?”

  “That depends on what you tell me.”

  Karan blew air from his nose. “I do not think so, Niel,” he said, placing an inflection upon the name. “I may not know much about how the underworld operates, but I do know that informants are paid before they tell you anything.” He started to gather his runestones. “So how much are you offering?”

  Niel remained silent for a moment as he considered the answer. Then the left corner of his mouth went up a bit. “A hundred regals.”

  Despite Karan's intention to keep his facial expression under control, his eyes widened. A hundred? Just for telling what I learned at the White Candle? That can't be for real.

  Karan started to speak. “I've never been inside—”

  “You have,” Niel said, cutting Karan off without hesitation.

  Karan noticed that Niel's posture had changed. Before it had mostly been one of disinterest, leaning back as they reviewed the runestones and scribbling down numbers without much thought. Now he was leaning forward, the look in his beady eyes more focused and the paper that held the list of runestones tossed to the side.

  If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

  He didn't come here for the runestones, Karan realized. He came here for this. The runestone offer was just a pretence.

  “I'm uncertain why you are convinced that I was inside the sanctum,” Karan said, trying to get a measure of how much the man knew.

  “Let's say that considering what we already know, it cannot possibly be any other way,” Niel said while smiling in a discomfiting way. “Though the most telling point is the White Candle spelltomes that are located in your room.”

  Niel raised his hand as if to ward off Karan's response. “You do not have to bother denying it as I will not believe you regardless of what you say.”

  Karan picked up the last of his runestones. “If you believe I have them, why aren't you offering to buy them?”

  “Would you be willing to sell them?”

  “No.”

  “Which is as we suspected; hence our request for information instead. As I said, I can offer you a hundred regals if you tell me what happened inside.” Niel produced a bulging coin purse from somewhere beneath him and dropped it on the table with a heavy thud. The distinct jingle of a large amount of coins could be heard.

  Karan eyed the bag warily. He might be bluffing. Just guessing that I was inside the sanctum. He glanced at Niel, whose beady eyes were trained on Karan in expectation. No, that's not likely. They wouldn't offer me this much coin if they had any doubts I was in there.

  Karan reached for the coin purse and pulled the cord that kept it closed. The silvery sheen of many regals greeted him.

  Niel gestured towards the bag. “Feel free to check the contents.”

  Karan reached inside the bag, allowing the cold touch of the white gold regals to engulf his fingers. Rooting around, he picked one and pulled it out.

  The profile image of King Darych was clearly visible on the side, and flipping the coin revealed the Gerios coat of arms.

  Looks real enough. So let's see if it actually is.

  Karan repositioned the coin between his fingers so he held it sideways between his index and middle finger, with the bottom of the coin supported on his thumb. He then added his index finger and thumb from his other hand, thus creating a small channel loop. ?ther flowed from his fingers a moment later.

  Like any other material, the white gold used in the coins would have a unique resistance to the flow of ?ther. Normally one would require many additional tools to determine this signature, but all regals were explicitly forged in a manner that allowed one to test this merely with one's hands to prevent counterfeiting.

  Niel watched silently as Karan confirmed that the ?ther he ran through the coin behaved as expected. The regal was real.

  “What stops me from lying to you?” Karan asked, placing the coin back with the others.

  “We trust that you won't.”

  Trust again, Karan thought. The other Niel said the same thing.

  “Isn't that a bit thin?”

  A devious grin appeared on the appraiser's face. “Well, if you choose to lie and we find out that you did—then we won't trust you anymore.” The intonation in Niel's voice left little doubt there was a good deal more to it than just that.

  Karan remained in doubt. A hundred regals for simply telling them what happened at the White Candle is more than generous. It's not like I could say anything that would make my situation any worse. The release of the ghast upon the city had been an accident and the Luria Syndicate obviously believed he took spelltomes from the sanctum. Admitting to either would matter little.

  It's a good deal, no matter how I look at it. I get to keep all my runestones and more than enough coin for my future needs.

  “I'm tempted to tell you,” Karan said, “but I would like to know exactly who is going to be the recipient of this information. I highly doubt this kind of thing is of interest to a syndicate.”

  “That is of no concern to you.”

  “That's where you are wrong. It is of concern to me. I do have some plans of my own, and I would hate to see that selling you this information would ruin those plans.” I also have some associates I would rather leave out of this.

  Niel tilted his head. “What do you propose?”

  “Just assure me you won't sell this information to any of the magic guilds or the Crown,” Karan said as he raised his hand to ward off a response. “Except for Hyna, because I'm convinced you will sell it to them regardless. They're probably the ones that put you up to this to begin with.”

  “Excellent. We have a deal then?” Niel reached for the coin purse and gave it a little nudge in Karan's direction.

  He agreed so easily, Karan thought. I guess that means that passing this on to Hyna was his plan from the start. That probably explains the ridiculous offer as well. They already know they can sell it on for even more.

  “We have a deal,” Karan said, pulling the bag towards him. “Where do you want me to begin?”

  “From the moment the plan was first conceived.”

  In the following hour Karan told Niel the story of the sanctum breach, taking care to leave out certain details, such as Htanni's involvement.

  Halfway through the talk, Siella entered the room with a water jug, glaring at Niel when she noticed that there was a voicesphere active. She did not do or say anything, however, simply placing the jug on the table and leaving the room again.

  Eventually Karan reached the end of the story. “After I dispelled the Frozen Past spell, we packed everything up and left. The Royal Guard had learned of the ghast by that time so they gave us little trouble.”

  “So the ghast blackshifted to the first anchor? What happened there?” Niel asked as he finished writing on another page of his notebook.

  Karan shrugged. “I don't know the details, but it's safe to say that the ghast appeared and caught the people there by surprise. It killed Magister Lee and fatally wounded Magister Hadwinagonn, who died on the way back to a haunt.”

  “Where is this haunt?”

  “I don't know; that part of the operation was outside my involvement.”

  “Did they bring the shifted spelltomes as well?”

  “They did, though I have no idea where they are now. Probably inside Callium's sanctum vault.”

  Karan refilled his glass with water. All this talking had left his throat dry.

  “So you know nothing of what happened to these spelltomes?”

  Karan took another sip of water before he spoke. “The day after the breach was chaos, and I was busy making certain my own affairs were in order. The morning after that, I was on the run. I didn't have the time to enquire about any specifics regarding what they did with that set of tomes.” He took another sip, allowing the cool water to run down his throat.

  Niel scribbled down some more things. “Anything else?”

  “Unless you have some specific questions, that was everything.”

  “Let's see,” Niel said as he flipped back through a few pages of his notebook. “No, I believe this will be sufficient for now.”

  “Good,” Karan said, picking up the coin purse. “I assume we are done here, then.”

  “We are,” Niel said, dispelling the voicesphere. “I will remain here for a while, however. I need to speak to the owner of the haunt when she returns.”

  Karan excused himself and carried his new wealth upstairs, cradling the heavy coin purse in both hands. In his room he carefully spread out the contents on his bed and started to count, placing the coins in groups of ten.

  As he counted, he heard the front door open. His room was right above the entrance hall so there was no mistake. It seemed that Moeke had returned and a moment later he could vaguely hear her voice.

  Karan resumed his counting. Whatever he wants with Moeke, it's no business of mine.

  A short while later, he was done. One hundred, he thought, placing the last group of ten with the rest. He grabbed a couple of regals out of the heap of coins to test them as well and confirmed they were real. Looks like they haven't shorted me.

  Pleased with himself, he started to refill the coin purse. This amount of coin would easily pay for anything he wanted in the near future. Now the only thing left to do was to complete and execute the plan to get rid of Callium's inner circle.

  The front door opened and closed once more. It appeared that Niel had left the haunt. There was some stumbling followed by the distinct sound of somebody ascending the stairs.

  Moeke is coming.

  Karan hurriedly placed the remaining coins in the bag and pulled the cord to close it.

  There was a knock on the door.

  “Enter,” Karan said.

  As expected, it was Moeke who entered the room.

  She eyed the bag. “I see you managed to obtain some coin?”

  “I did,” Karan said, looking at her thoughtfully. Is she going to say something about the Voicesphere spell? The expression on her face was neutral.

  “I have a message for you,” Moeke said, handing him a closed envelope. “It's from Htanni.”

  “Already?” Karan asked, accepting the letter. He had asked Moeke if she could relay a message to Htanni two days earlier and had not expected a reply so soon.

  “Htanni was expecting your message, so he already had most of his reply prepared.”

  Of course he did.

  Karan was no longer surprised by anything Htanni did. It was obvious by now that Htanni was a radically different person from what Karan had originally believed. Or at least, he used to be.

  “Anything I need to know?” Moeke asked.

  Karan raised an eyebrow at her. Is she asking about the Voicesphere spell?

  “Niel cast a Voicesphere spell,” Karan replied.

  “I know; Siella already told me.” Her expression did not change.

  “That wasn't a problem?”

  “Why should it be?”

  “I thought magic was not allowed here.”

  “That's just for our permanent guests,” Moeke said. “Besides, if a voicesphere made that man feel more secure, then who am I to deny him such comfort?” A faint smile crossed her lips.

  Karan did not like the implication of that smile. Did they overhear the conversation regardless of the voicesphere? He mentally shrugged. Ah, what does it matter? Htanni knows as much about the situation surrounding White Candle as I do. He could have told Moeke everything days ago.

  “Thank you for bringing this,” Karan said politely.

  Moeke waved her hand dismissively. “I know that news from the outside is always welcome in a situation like yours. Be certain to savour it.” With that, she left the room.

  Karan ripped open the envelope; he was worried about Htanni's situation. If the inner circle had found out that Htanni helped Karan escape, he would suffer as a result.

  The first paragraphs, however, alleviated any concerns. In his florid handwriting, Htanni explained that he was being ignored as usual as Callium was far too busy with damage control since Karan's escape.

  The first page contained a brief description of the situation at the Imperator. Every single activity that could be perceived as being unlawful had been suspended, and the guild's ambassador to the Crown had not slept properly for days. Sill and the rest of the inner circle barely showed themselves, confining themselves to the upper floors of the guild tower most of the time.

  Karan read the letter with a broad grin. They are crawling into the hole where they belong.

  But his grin disappeared as he realized that this could be a problem. If Callium had become overly cautious, it would make things more difficult for what he was planning.

  He turned over the page to read the rest.

  “With regards to your personal situation, there is equally little reason to worry,” the letter said. “The consensus here is that you fled the city, with the only disagreement being the destination. Nobody here is looking for you anymore, nor does anyone really care given the current situation. I am, however, sorry to say that they took everything present in your room and study. They tried to do the same with your savings at the Bank of Sondar, but the Royal Guard already ordered the account to be frozen.”

  Who would believe it—the Royal Guard have actually done something that helps me.

  “All in all,” the letter continued, “I can state with confidence that as far as Callium is concerned, you are gone, which I'm certain is something you are glad to hear.”

  I certainly am.

  “Nonetheless, I am worried about the direction the guild is currently moving towards. While the atmosphere never was one of openness and trust, it has become increasingly worse lately, with magisters no longer speaking with each other and strange decisions being made.”

  That's not a surprise, Karan thought. White Candle disappearing was supposed to be a great opportunity. They must be at a loss how to proceed after it turned into a disaster instead.

  The letter continued. “The strangest decision of late has been to hide the spelltomes you took from the Candle sanctum in a haunt rather than our vault. Their reason for this is the possibility of the Royal Guard discovering them there, which I find tenuous at best.”

  Karan tilted his head as if trying to make certain he read that correctly. They aren't keeping the tomes at the Imperator?

  The reason Htanni gave in his letter was plausible to an extent. The Royal Guard was indeed allowed to enter any sanctum in the city during a time of crisis like this, yet hiding the tomes in such a way that a visiting lance could not find them was an easy task. Especially if they didn't even know the tomes were there to begin with. A tenuous reason at best indeed.

  His interest piqued, he read on.

  “The haunt used for storing the tomes is a peculiar choice as well. It's one that is intended for the archmagister himself to use in a time of crisis, and I'm at a loss to understand why Archmagister Yerwede would make such a place a storage area.”

  Karan drew in a sharp breath. I know which haunt that is. He had helped set up the place many years ago under the direction of Magister Salfazon, and while Karan was never told the purpose of the haunt, he found out about it a short while later. It was intended as a place for the Callium archmagister and any of his members to withdraw to if the Imperator became unsafe somehow.

  “I have no idea where this haunt is, nor do I know how safe the spelltomes are there,” the letter said.

  Oh, the tomes will be safe there. From all the haunts Callium owned, that one was by far the most secure and not just because of its wards. Only a small handful of magisters knew its location, as evidenced by the fact that even Htanni was unaware of it. Nonetheless, why did Sill have the tomes moved there? He'll still need people to crack the cypher, which means that those people will learn about the haunt as well.

  “I find it disturbing that the archmagister resorts to this,” the letter went on, “but perhaps I'm the fool to still be surprised by this. The guild has fallen, Karan. It has fallen a long way, and I sincerely hope I will live long enough to see this dark road end.”

  I'm afraid I'm going to have to disappoint you there, Htanni, Karan thought. But then again, the guild will never return to the glory you so fondly remember as long as a man like Sill Yerwede leads it.

  “I hope that you will remain safe in the coming days as we await the day that White Candle's legacy reveals itself to us. Despite your safe return from their sanctum, I shudder to think what will happen when the wards finally exhaust their sigils. There are forces at work that go far beyond those that were present inside the sanctum. Take heed, Karan; there was nothing accidental about the White Candle magistrae's disappearance as I knew many of them very well. They were not the kind of people to make mistakes.”

  That may be so, but they were gone regardless. That sanctum was sealed as tight as a drum, so if they didn't do it to themselves, then who did? And how?

  “The attack on your person during your stay there merely reinforces my belief, and you would do well to never concern yourself with White Candle ever again. Be safe and may the ?ther preserve you.”

  Karan put the letter down, pondering the first sentence of the last paragraph. White Candle's legacy.

  He glanced towards the closed chest containing the stolen spelltomes.

  It's only been six days since I took those, yet it feels like something I did in another life.

  Since he arrived here, he had had a lot of time to think about all the events that took place at the White Candle but he had come no closer to understanding any of them. The only thing he knew with certainty was that the magistrae of White Candle were gone from the sanctum; engulfed by a spell of such magnitude that the resulting ?ther fluctuations turned a cellar spider into a ghast ten times its size.

  Karan felt his muscles tense as he recalled seeing the ghast for the first time.

  But even disregarding the ghast, the amount of ?ther needed to weave a spell to create such a monster had to be enormous. What in the world were they trying to do?

  It was a question that he had asked himself countless times these past few days, but had failed to come up with even a speculative answer. Within eight or nine days the sigils that empowered the sanctum wards would lose the last of their charge, and White Candle's legacy, as Htanni called it, would be exposed to the world.

  And who knows what that legacy will be or who will try to obtain it?

  He eyed the bag of coin and a sliver of doubt entered his mind. Was it really a good idea to tell someone what I saw in there? Considering the amount they paid, Hyna must have been desperate for the information, and I have no idea how far their involvement reaches in all this.

  Karan ran a hand through his unkempt hair before shaking his head. Worrying about things he could do nothing about was pointless. There was nothing that he could do to stop the wards from failing, and he would be much better served by focusing on his own plans.

  Nonetheless, Karan thought, it is probably best that I execute my plan before those wards fail.

  He started rereading the part about the hidden spelltomes once more as it had piqued his interest.

  If it's like this, then the plan I presented to the Daughters might not be a lie after all.

  When Karan had told Magistra Seleny that he had a plan to steal Callium's half of the White Candle spelltomes, it was only a bluff. Rather than actually stealing those tomes, Karan had planned to use some of his own collection. Placed at a suitable location, they could be used to ensnare some Callium inner circle members who could then be caught red-handed.

  However, now that he learned that the Callium's spelltomes had been secreted somewhere he could reach them, his mind wandered over the possibilities. The haunt they were kept in was a difficult target, but not an impossible one like the Imperator's sanctum would have been.

  Attacking that place will be more dangerous than my original plan. If I do it, though, I can keep my own tomes and the situation will be real rather than a set-up on my part.

  The idea appealed to him. He still did not entirely trust the Daughters, but if they made an attempt to double-cross him it would not endanger his own tomes. The risk might be greater, but he could easily arrange things so that the Daughters carried most of that burden.

  Karan folded up the letter with a devious grin on his face. It seems things are finally turning in my favour.