Initially, King Mischell was greatly concerned about the fate of the Imperator. The city was still recovering from the aftermath of the Schism, and he was not eager to have Rios suffer yet another violent encounter between two guilds. Luckily, however, the Daughters of Ashira had no interest in inhabiting the Imperator, opting to build an entirely new seat on the grounds of the abandoned Fela alluvium.

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

  Outside the tiny window of his cell, stars peeked through the sparse clouds.

  It was the third time he'd seen this particular sight, and Karan wondered how many more times there would be. The cell he inhabited was part of one of the outer walls of the Winged Keep, and he considered that a small blessing rather than being locked up in the windowless Stockade.

  After the Royal Guard had confirmed Karan's claims, they threw him in this cell. Then, the blowout happened. Panic had overwhelmed him and he had screamed so loud to be released that his voice was still somewhat hoarse.

  Yet through some random twist of fate, no more blowouts followed. The m?lstrom Karan had dreaded so much had not happened. Even so, it wasn't until the next day when his jailer updated him on the situation that he was certain it would stay that way.

  A harrowing day that was.

  After that, he had spent his time reflecting on all his actions during the past moon and how much of it would work in his favour when the time of his trial came. Nobody had told him there was going to be one, yet he knew they wouldn't let him go free without some sort of punishment. His involvement with looting the White Candle sanctum for one thing was something that could not be erased.

  I do wonder how long it will take them to contain the aftermath of the blowout, Karan thought, gazing up at the night sky. Who knows how many horrors spawned forth from a densely populated area like River's End? The Royal Guard has its work cut out for them.

  Behind him, the key was turned in the lock and Karan turned around in confusion. Who could that be at this hour?

  It was his jailer, a middle-aged guard with pox scars on his face and a voice that sounded like rasping nails. “Magister De Ekkar,” he said, the sound causing the hairs on the back of Karan's neck to rise. “Follow me.”

  “Am I being taken to a more permanent accommodation in the Stockade?”

  “No.”

  That was all he said, and the impatient expression on his face made it clear no further explanation would be forthcoming.

  “Very well,” Karan said, stepping outside his cell and looking around. The jailer was alone.

  That's a good sign, I suppose. They don't feel I'm liable to flee. He looked around at the solid stone walls that surrounded him on all sides. Or perhaps they think I can't. He looked down at his hands, shackled to a metal bar that prevented him from weaving.

  In truth, he had no intention of escaping. All that he had done was with the aim of re-establishing himself as a proper magister in the city. Going back to the life of a fugitive would shield him from punishment, but from reward as well. All I can do now is see how this plays out.

  “Move,” the jailer ordered.

  “I don't know where we are going,” Karan said.

  The jailer pointed down the corridor. “Just walk. I'll tell you when to turn.”

  Charming personality.

  They walked. First through the interior of the curtain wall, and then outside onto the bailey. From there they walked onward past the Old Bell Tower, and it was at that moment Karan realized where they were headed.

  “The royal palace?” he asked.

  The jailer remained mute.

  Upon arriving at the main doors, a member of First Lance stopped them. “I'll take it from here,” he said to the jailer.

  Karan's jailer grunted a response and left as the Royal Guard opened one of the doors and led Karan inside.

  Not much changed here, he thought, looking around the entrance hall. He had visited the palace a handful of times before, but the last time was years ago. The hall itself was filled with large portraits of past kings and other grand artefacts that were supposed to invoke a feeling of awe in the visitor.

  Nonetheless, Karan was not impressed. When it comes to opulence and showing off, this place barely holds a candle to Sill's study.

  “Follow me,” the guard instructed.

  “Who am I meeting?” Karan asked. He had a suspicion, but he preferred to confirm it before actually facing them.

  “His majesty commanded to speak to you.”

  So it is indeed King Darych who summoned me.

  The confirmation posed its own question. Why does Darych of all people want to see me? I could understand someone from the Whisper or the Royal Guard. But the King?

  On one hand, it was a good thing. If they were going to announce his trial or accuse him of something heinous, they wouldn't have called him here. On the other hand, King Darych had a fickle personality, and he had been under a lot of stress lately.

  Regardless of what he wants, it's going to be an important conversation.

  He focused his attention and steeled his will as they approached the door that led to the audience chamber.

  Inside, King Darych de Astorte, first of his name, awaited him.

  Compared to the entrance hall, the audience chamber was a sober affair. Most of the walls were bare, apart from the metal representation of the De Astorte Family weapon that was nailed to the far wall. It was flanked by two banners that showed the weapon of the realm.

  Underneath these sat King Darych on a large chair placed on a wooden dais. The queen's chair beside him was empty.

  In the corners of the room Karan saw more chairs, piled up in several stacks. None of them had been prepared, however; he would have to stand.

  Apart from the King, three members of First Lance were also present. This included Guard-marshal Ivozon, who stood beside the King's lofty chair in full dress.

  I don't think I've ever seen him in anything but his formal uniform.

  Karan approached the platform until he was five paces away, then bowed deeply. “Your majesty has commanded my presence.”

  “Indeed I have, Karan de Ekkar,” Darych said. His voice sounded tired, and upon closer inspection Karan noted the King had dark circles below his eyes, poorly hidden beneath a layer of face powder.

  “I await your words,” Karan said.

  “Words? I have many words to say. Some of which I wish I didn't have to speak if it wasn't for the severity of the situation.”

  “You must forgive me, sire. Little news of what is happening has reached my ears over the past few days. If there is a specific severe event you are referring to, I may not know of it.”

  Darych nodded once and raised his index finger. “I ordered Callium to be disbanded this morning.”

  “I see,” Karan said simply.

  He knew he should have been shocked at the news, but he found himself feeling nothing more than a fleeting moment of disillusion. During his musings over the past days, he had foreseen this very thing as a likely outcome.

  “You don't appear to be unsettled by this,” Darych said.

  “I knew this could happen, sire, yet I admit I would have preferred not to see this day. It was my hope that the elimination of Callium's inner circle, who were the source of all this foulness, would be enough to prevent you from reaching this decision.”

  “It nearly was,” Darych said, “but in times of crisis, one should not show weakness. As such, I commanded it. Difficult as it may have been.”

  He raised up a silk-gloved hand. “Yet that decision was still easier than the one I had to take regarding you.”

  Karan tensed up. Here it comes.

  “I was—no, am—still very conflicted about where your loyalties lie, magister. You did several things that would warrant lifelong imprisonment at least. The fact that someone commanded you to do so makes no difference in that regard, considering your duty as a magister.”

  Karan did not speak, feeling it more prudent to let Darych finish rather than protest.

  “That said,” the King continued, “you also showed that your heart is in the right place by giving up your freedom so you could warn us of the coming disaster. If you hadn't, this city would have been in much worse shape than it is.”

  Darych regarded Karan for a moment. “Do you have anything to say to that, magister?”

  “It is as you say, sire. I cannot make excuses for what I did. I did enter the White Candle sanctum and stole spelltomes from a fellow guild that was in need of our aid. Yet I knew it was wrong, which is why I fled from the guild a day later. After they so eagerly branded me a traitor, I realized that the corruption went beyond what I imagined, and I set out to right those wrongs with the Daughters of Ashira's help.”

  Karan could not help but feel some smugness from the irony of him placing the blame for the event on Sill's head now.

  “That still makes your motivations ambiguous, magister,” Darych said, frowning. “Why did you not come to the Royal Guard in the first place?”

  “At the time, I didn't feel they could help me. Without proof, it would be my word against that of the inner circle, and with the rumours that were going around and the release of the ghast, I thought it more prudent to follow the course of action as it played out. I do not know if it was the right choice to make, yet I made it.”

  “Your last words accurately describe my thoughts. It is easy to call something right or wrong given the knowledge one gains after the fact. Normally I would have left you locked up until a proper trial could determine if you are guilty or not. Yet the city is in crisis, and I thus need to make my decision now. I cannot afford to place men of your calibre out of action unless I'm absolutely certain of wrongdoing. There is too much work to be done and too little time to do it.”

  Darych straightened up and raised his hand. “As such, I command you, Karan de Ekkar, to assist with the formal disbanding of Callium under the direct command of the Royal Guard.”

  Karan drew in a sharp breath. The best he had hoped for was to be shown leniency, but this went beyond that. The King lives up to his heritage after all, it appears.

  In a way, it made sense. The disbanding of Callium would be a nightmare to manage with its entire leadership gone, and the state of crisis in River's End made things even worse. Assigning me to the Royal Guard is merely a sign that the King is still in doubt about where my loyalties lie.

  None of these considerations showed on his face, however. He simply bowed. “As you command, sire.”

  “I will leave it in your hands, then,” the King said before giving a nod to the guard-marshal.

  “You will be assigned to Second Lance,” Guard-marshal Ivozon said with a stern face. “Starting this very moment. You will no longer be confined to a cell, but you will report to Guard-captain Snek twice a day, with your first report being right now.” He beckoned one of the other lance members to come forward.

  Guard-captain Snek? Karan thought, feeling a twinge of worry. The last time I saw him was during that interrogation, and he was none too happy with me then. I hope his disposition towards me has improved over the past few days.

  Karan bowed and walked backwards towards the exit, where the guard escorted him out of the chamber.

  As he crossed the bailey once more, this time in the direction of the Royal Guard barracks, Karan considered the implications of his new career as a Royal Guard member.

  It didn't take him long to reach a conclusion; he would have to go along with it to his utmost ability. There was little doubt that every action he took would be scrutinized by the Royal Guard and that any misstep, no matter how small, would land him right back in jail.

  Even so, he didn't dread the command. Being back at the Imperator and working on a clearly defined task would allow him to focus his mind again. Especially without a bothersome inner circle watching over his shoulder.

  Redemption must be asked for, he thought, recalling what Moeke had said. I came back here partly because of those words. Is this then the path to redemption?

  He halted in front of the barracks door and took a moment to compose himself. Guard-captain Snek would likely rage and curse at him the moment he showed himself.

  Nobody ever said that redemption was easy.

  Luckily, Guard-captain Snek was out in the city somewhere, and his second in command turned out to be a much more reasonable man. Karan was provided with a bunk and a guard outfit to replace the clothes he'd been wearing for weeks now. The only thing missing is some boiled armour, Karan thought as he stashed his new belongings in the locker at the end of his bunk. The room he would be staying in used to belong to the recruits, but as they had all been pressed into service, they had all moved to the quarters of their respective lances. One of the other guards had been nice enough to update him briefly on the situation in the city, which led Karan to conclude that all in all, they had been very lucky.

  This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.

  Sure, there's still a wraith on the loose, and who knows how many transmogrified animals, but that pales compared to what could have happened.

  Feeling that a corner had been turned, he went to sleep.

  The next day, Karan donned his guard costume and started the walk towards the Imperator. He couldn't afford a carriage as the coin he had had on him had been taken when he was arrested, and nobody appeared to know where it had gone.

  It was near a half-regal worth of coin too, Karan thought grudgingly, before halting in the middle of the road as if struck by lightning.

  My regals!

  Back at Moeke's haunt, he still had close to a hundred regals—the payment he had received from the Luria syndicate—stashed away.

  Anxiety gripped him. Krat, what was the address again? Before entering the Winged Keep on the day of the blowout, he had committed the address to memory before destroying the slip of paper it was written on.

  Waterlink Run twenty-three. Or was it thirty-two?

  He rubbed his head in frustration. Despite coin not being an immediate concern, Karan was unwilling to forgo so large an amount.

  No, wait. Even if my address is no longer valid, I can still ask Htanni. He's certain to have an address I can use.

  The realization calmed him down, and he resumed his walk.

  The Imperator stood solemnly in the light of the sun. Its massive granite hexagonal clock tower still reached up into the sky as it had done for one-hundred and seventy-four years. Like the White Candle, there was a small square in front of the building that was usually filled with Callium adepts taking in some sunshine. But today, despite the warm sun, there were none to be seen.

  Were they all dismissed?

  A look up at Callium's seat showed a further lack of display. The ring of high, narrow arched windows that encircled the third floor had had all their orange banners removed, and the flagpoles near the top were equally bare. Whoever first learned of the King's command yesterday had made good progress removing all outwardly visible traces of Callium.

  Hesitant, Karan opened the guest door next to the main gate. An adept was seated in the guard-house, who at first gave Karan only a glance, followed by a double-take with wide-open eyes.

  Seems like they weren't expecting me.

  “You,” Karan addressed him, jabbing his finger in the adept's direction. “Where can I find Magister Vae?”

  “I'm not certain,” the adept stammered. “He should be present today.”

  “I'll find him myself then.”

  Shrugging off his hesitation, he wore his old self like a warm cloak and with a firm step crossed the entrance hall in the direction of the lower study wings. He wasn't certain that Htanni would be there, but it was as good a place as any to start looking.

  On his way, he noticed that there were still a lot of adepts present, packing and moving crates around and making the place feel more crowded than usual.

  It appeared that rather than being dismissed, they all had been roped into helping clearing out Callium's many possessions.

  I wonder how much of it will make it into storage, Karan thought as he saw an adept pocket a runestone. Won't be much.

  Most of the people he encountered either ignored him or looked surprised without saying anything. The remaining few, most of them magisters, glared at him with open hostility and contempt, and he could hear them mumble unflattering remarks behind his back.

  Karan let them talk. Their opinions hold little meaning now.

  A knock on the door of Htanni's study yielded no response, and it was locked as well. He turned around, only to find his way his way barred by Magister Siki and one of his adepts. Kindem could barely contain his anger. His entire body was tense and his face was flushed.

  “Hello, Kindem,” Karan said, choosing to ignore his hostile behaviour. “Do you know where Htanni is?”

  “What are you doing here, traitor?” Kindem demanded, taking a step forward so that his thick gut almost touched Karan. “You are not welcome here.”

  Karan's expression hardened. He was expecting to receive hardship from some of the magisters, but he wouldn't take any abuse from Kindem Siki, who had hidden like a snivelling coward during the attack of the dark assailants.

  “Shouldn't you be hiding behind a coffee table somewhere?” Karan taunted. “You did that so well back at the White Candle.”

  Kindem's face became even redder. “That was your fault as well. If you had taken the proper precautions, we wouldn't have been cornered like that. And now you have destroyed my guild as well! The guild that treated you like its precious son!”

  Karan scoffed. “I'm a son? Then where are my parents? Oh, that's right. They fled like the cowards they are with Sill up front. What exactly do I have to do with that? Or is their choice to abandon the guild also my fault?”

  “Everything went bad because of your mistakes. Yours! You and you alone are the reason our guild has fallen!”

  Kindem was shouting now, drawing the attention of several nearby adepts and magisters alike.

  There is no point continuing this. “Whatever you say, Kindem,” Karan said, looking away.

  “Don't you dare walk away from me,” Kindem hissed.

  From the corner of his eye Karan saw the round magister reach into his robe and produce a runestone.

  Krat!

  Karan had no runestones with him, and weaving a spell would never be fast enough.

  Behind Kindem an adept rushed forward, crashing into his back. With an exasperated scream, Kindem fell towards Karan, who sidestepped just in time for the former Callium magister to hit the floor next to him. The runestone he was holding rolled away.

  “Magister De Ekkar,” the adept who had tackled Kindem said. “We weren't expecting to see you here.”

  “Miklas,” Karan said, recognizing Htanni's adept. “You appeared just in time.”

  Kindem rolled over onto his back, yet made no attempt to get up. “How dare you hurt a magister!” he reproached Miklas, wheezing.

  “The guild is disbanded,” Karan said. “You are no longer a Callium magister. He does not have to listen to you.”

  The adept that Kindem had brought with him started to pull his arm in an attempt to get him back on his feet. “If I'm no longer a Callium magister, then you definitely aren't one. What right do you have?”

  “You are correct,” Karan said. “I'm no longer a Callium magister, yet I have a right. One much better than yours.”

  With a deliberate gesture, he produced the Royal Guard clasp given to him that morning and showed it first to Kindem, then everyone else. “I'm here on behalf of the Royal Guard, so if anyone else has some funny ideas or threatens me harm, you know what the penalty is for attacking a Royal Guard member.”

  Nobody spoke. Not even Kindem, who had managed to regain his footing with the adept's assistance.

  “Miklas,” Karan said, “do you know where Magister Vae is?”

  “Yes, magister. He's in the vault.”

  “Let's go then. There is a job to be done here.” He stretched out his arm and made a wide gesture. “All of you, get back to work. This guild no longer exists, and we are all to blame for it. So at the very least retain some of your pride in these final moments.”

  Before he left, he picked up the runestone dropped by Kindem and then walked off with Miklas without looking back.

  The vault was a secure chamber inside Callium's sanctum. Only a handful of people had access to it under normal circumstances, yet now the heavy door made from Terkan oak stood open, with a burly adept standing guard in the gap.

  “Magister De Ekkar is here to see Magister Vae,” Miklas said to the adept, who immediately stepped aside.

  Karan entered the vault and observed the many racks filled with spelltomes, artefacts and other items. A rare and valuable collection, with items dating back to before the founding of Callium Imperatus. There were even rumoured to be some items here that predated the Second Bane, though Karan had never seen them.

  “Htanni?” Karan called. “Are you in here? It's me, Karan.”

  There was a stumbling sound from somewhere in the back.

  “Karan?” a rasping voice asked. A moment later, Htanni appeared from between two storage racks, small and frail in his formal robe that seemed to hang off him. An adept followed him, carrying a thick open ledger.

  “It is you,” Htanni said, adding even more wrinkles to his face as he smiled. “I thought you'd still be at the Winged Keep.”

  “I was let go under some... conditions,” Karan said, showing Htanni the Royal Guard clasp.

  “I see. That explains your outfit.” Htanni beckoned Karan to follow him. “Come sit with me. I have been up and about since this morning and my bones ache.”

  He moved towards one of the study tables intended for those who wished to review material that wasn't allowed to leave the vault.

  “You can leave that here for now, Lenn,” Htanni said to the adept with the ledger. “Go grab something to eat before we continue here.”

  “Yes, Magister Vae.”

  “I'm assuming that's the inventory list of the vault,” Karan said, nodding towards the thick book.

  “It is,” Htanni replied as he sat down with a sigh of relief.

  “It was prudent of you to post a guard at the entrance. I noted some looting on the way here.”

  “Unfortunately, said looting also occurred here, I'm afraid to say. Several prized items are missing.”

  “What? Who opened the vault, then?”

  “I did.”

  Karan raised an eyebrow. “You have a vault key?”

  Htanni let out a brief chuckle. “As irony wills it, I was given this key during the Schism and simply never got around to returning it. In truth, I had forgotten I even had it until Magister Osion came to my door this morning asking if I knew anyone who had one. After the arrests, no members of the inner circle remained here, after all.” He raised his head to look Karan in the eye. “And we will not remain either.”

  Karan bowed his head. “I'm sorry, Htanni. I know this is not the end you sought when you assisted me.”

  “Do not apologize, Karan. It is I who was na?ve. Like you, I thought that by removing the rot from our guild we could make it healthy again, yet it appears that hope was in vain.” He placed his bony hand on the ledger. “I found that even the roots were affected.”

  “The missing items.”

  “Yes, it appears that the archmagister, among others, has spent the past years raiding the vault of its most precious artefacts and replacing them with copies. I realized it this morning when our Yv crystal slipped from my hands and shattered into a thousand pieces.”

  “I'm unfamiliar with those,” Karan said, idly wondering how many more items had slipped from Htanni's frail hands.

  “Yv crystals are rare mineral formations that formed in the quartz bogs of the Last Marsh.”

  “How could you tell it was a fake if you broke it?”

  “That it broke was the issue. These crystals possess several unique properties, one of which is that they are almost indestructible. Had it been real, it would have broken the floor tiles instead of itself.”

  Htanni coughed into his hand. “After that, I scrutinized our other, more valuable, items thoroughly and realized many of those had been replaced as well.”

  I had not expected this, Karan thought. Someone looting the vault like that? “This must have been going on for a while then.”

  “I assume so,” Htanni replied. “Although there is no way to tell when it started. Yet it had to have been someone who had free access to the vault and enough time and resources to craft copies.”

  “The inner circle.”

  “That is the only logical conclusion.”

  They just tried to enrich themselves? Karan mulled over that revelation for a few moments and found that several previously unrelated events suddenly started to make sense.

  Karan looked solemn. “If their goal really was to make off with as much coin as possible, that would explain why Sill was so adamant about continuing the breach of the sanctum. They probably saw it as their last major opportunity to gain wealth, and that's why they risked everything on it. It also explains why he decided to run instead of go to trial. This is not something you can explain away.”

  Htanni nodded. “Another logical conclusion.”

  “But why?” Karan wondered aloud. “All of them were rich in their own right, and the guild paid for everything else. Why go through this much trouble just for more coin?”

  Htanni shrugged. “That I cannot say. Perhaps the burden of leadership became too much, and their greed grew out of control. It is an emotion that feeds upon itself, after all. Or perhaps it was simple paranoia combined with a deep-seated corruption in their being. I've seen power corrupt many good men in my lifetime.”

  “Paranoia? I'd believe that,” Karan said with a huff. “It would be a good reason why they would go so far as to have me killed. After I escaped their clutches, they must have begun to panic.” He nodded to himself. “Yes, yes. It makes sense now. They panicked, so they holed themselves up in their studies and brought the White Candle tomes to Sill's haunt instead of here. They knew I was out there, and held some irrational fear I might strike at them.”

  “And you did,” Htanni pointed out, “so it wasn't entirely irrational.”

  Karan scoffed. “I did because they were too dumb to remember I was the one who set up that haunt to begin with, and because they failed to notice my connection with you. Had it been otherwise, it would have taken me far longer to get this far.”

  He leaned backwards in his chair and closed his eyes. “To think it was something as mundane as greed that caused all of this.”

  “You sound disappointed.”

  “That's because I was expecting something more. Some kind of conspiracy or other involvement with the dark assailants, or with Hyna.”

  “Hyna? Why would they be involved?”

  Karan faced Htanni. “One of the guards told me that Magister Tennenbrand confessed to having sold information and items to them. That's why I thought there was much more going on, but it was simply a way for him to make more coin.”

  He shook his head in disbelief. “Pathetic.”

  “Regardless,” Htanni said, “I think it's safe to say we will not see any of them again, and that with this the history of Callium Imperatus has finally come to end. Although I suppose it ended when the Schism did, and I simply failed to notice.”

  “You make it sound so final.”

  Htanni's gaze grew distant. “All things come to an end. I realize that more clearly than ever before now.”

  “There is still work to be done,” Karan said, trying to draw Htanni's attention back to the present. “I did come here for a reason. The King commanded me to assist with the disbanding, so that's what I'm going to do. He waved his hand around. “You seem to have things well underway yourself.”

  “Considering what has happened, most of our members accepted their dismissal without protest. I'm certain they will readily find new guilds.”

  “If anyone even wants them.”

  Htanni sighed, causing his entire body to shrink slightly. “Most of them are good people, Karan. It's not as if every person here aspired to be like the men of the inner circle and climb over everyone that might stand in their way. The other guilds will realize this and judge each on their own merits. I urged my adepts to apply regardless of the burden they might feel they are carrying, and not look upon the disbanding of Chyn Kotia as an example.”

  “Why not? The circumstances are similar.”

  Htanni's face darkened. “The men and women of Chyn Kotia were of a much darker sort, Karan. When their guild disbanded, less than a handful found a place within other guilds. The rest of them simply vanished.” He waved his hand at some point in the distance. “Not that many of them survived to begin with.”

  “Perhaps a new guild will be formed, then. With both Callium and White Candle gone, only the Daughters and the Lyceum are left, and I doubt either of them will be eager to accept Callium members.”

  “I heard talk of such a plan,” Htanni said, “but at the moment that matters not. After we are done here at the Imperator, there is work to be done in River's End. The King's messenger told us that any magister or adept who assists with the aftermath of the blowout will be looked upon favourably when their trials come.”

  Karan took note. There are going to be trials after all. I wonder if when that time comes King Darych will have me dragged in front of a judicator. “Aren't they worried that the guilty ones might try to flee?”

  “Would it matter if they did?”

  Karan smirked. “Probably not. They wouldn't be able to practise magic ever again if they did. And besides, with the inner circle gone, only lackeys like Kindem Siki or Koon Yerwede remain. Even if they went to trial, nothing noteworthy would come of it, and their punishments would be brief if they got any at all.”

  “I do hope they don't give in to their emotions. The city has enough problems already.”

  “Speaking of that—what is happening in River's End?” Karan asked curiously. “I heard that a wraith escaped the area, which is otherwise contained.”

  “That is all I know as well,” Htanni replied. “The city watch has closed off all the streets surrounding the blowout area and Fifth Lance is hunting the wraith you mention. What the exact situation inside the afflicted area is, however, I do not know.”

  “The Royal Guard is busy indeed. I overheard one of the guards say that it's going to take weeks if not moons to clean the entire place. Horrors hiding everywhere and curses lingering in the sky waiting for some fool to wander through them.” Karan paused, as that reminded him of something. “And speaking of hiding, do you happen to have another address for my haunt? Circumstances caused me to lose the one I had.”

  Htanni nodded. “That can be arranged. Are you concerned about the White Candle spelltomes and wish to hand them over to the Crown?”

  Hand them over? Karan thought, raising an eyebrow. The reason he had asked for a new address to the haunt was because of the regals there. Yet now that Htanni mentioned the tomes, Karan realized that their fate warranted some thought as well.

  Htanni has a point. I can't decrypt them by myself, and selling them to the likes of the Luria syndicate is out of the question. The tomes would just end up in the hands of Hyna, and who knows what they would do with them.

  “That might not be such a bad idea,” Karan said. “Returning them likely serves me better than keeping them.” He waved his arm around. “We'll just make them appear as a sudden discovery here in the vault.”

  “It would be for the best.”

  They sat in silence for a few moments.

  “Let's get to work then,” Karan said, breaking the silence. “Let's see how much we can salvage.”

  “There is one more thing, Karan,” Htanni said as Karan got up from his chair. “Something of great importance I need to speak to you about.”

  Karan froze mid-rise due to the seriousness in Htanni's tone. “What is it?”

  “I cannot say. Not here.”

  Karan straightened up. “Not here? This is the vault of the Imperator. If this place isn't safe, where is?”

  “It concerns something that is unrelated to Callium, yet it is very important. Important enough that it could change your life forever.”

  Change my life? What's he talking about?

  “Okay,” Karan said, confused by Htanni's sudden graveness. “Where then, if not here?”

  Htanni waved his hand. “It can wait for the moment. As you said, there is still work to be done here, and we should finish it properly as former magisters of Callium.” He pointed to the ledger. “Would you mind carrying that until Lenn returns?”

  “Not at all,” Karan said, picking up the ledger.

  He followed Htanni deeper into the vault, wondering what the old magister could possibly want to speak to him about.

  Well, no matter, Karan thought, as Htanni pointed out a rack number for him to look up. He'll tell me in due course.

  He started flipping through the pages of the ledger.