I made my way through some of the other materials Claude had left me. It included some other histories of this ridge—the Eastern Range, it was usually called in Ivian-speaking places; apparently the “Black Ridge” in Uri-Kedis. Geography. Climate. The law in Desheret-Nemes’ Kingdom1. Flora, Fauna. The history of the House Eastmost (beginning with one of those forty-nine mortal cavalrymen, who had been made its lord dynast and enjoined to raise a fortress on the ridge) and its relation with the Seven Kingdoms to its west and the Old Kingdom to its east.
With only a few hours available to me before I would need to rest, I spent only a brief time on each subject, promising myself I would return later.
When some time—don’t ask me how long—had passed, two heavy footfalls announced a new arrival in the library.
I looked up. It was Magister Akabu Ai.
“Magister Ai,” I said, reaching for my cane, as if I were anticipating being asked to go somewhere.
“Apprentice Horwendell of Ilianath. You have been welcomed, but allow me to welcome you again.”
“… Yes, thank you,” I said. “I had hoped to speak with you.”
“The lord consort said as much. What is it?”
“You told us, in the motive is mystery. I took it as a caution against the… well, the straightforward acceptance of the vision. Is that what you meant?”
Magister Ai thought. “It matters little what I meant, but you were correct not to merely accept the vision.”
“But what did you mean, then?”
“It matters little. We shall therefore pay it no heed.”
That was like him, I thought. Magister Ai had always been cryptic, rigid, and somehow unfailingly correct. I shrugged. “So be it. What do you know about Lady Iltara? I suppose Hester has filled you in.”
“Yes. She acts from a position of weakness. Desperation. And she is more powerful than you imagine, and yet more powerful than that.”
I lowered my chin and leveled my gaze in proper, wizardly thought.
“You should not go,” Magister Ai said.
I raised my eyebrows. That was unlike him. “Why not? Besides that she makes for a powerful adversary.”
“Need you another reason?”
“Hester would.”
“So he would. The lord heir believes himself invincible when armored by justice. All the more reason the three of you should not go.”
I paused. “Tell Joan, then.”
“I have.”
“So…”
“He will go, nevertheless. The duchess will permit him.”
“Oh.”
“And if he is to go, you ought to go with him. It is a wizard’s duty, after all.”
“I am an apprentice, and unpledged. But I suppose you are right, about the duties in general.”
Ai smirked, which also seemed unlike him. It was all making me uncomfortable. “Magister Montigo has taught you well in that regard.”
I shrugged off the compliment; it didn’t seem worth lingering on. “What do you mean, Iltara acts from a position of weakness?”
“Her enemies close in on her, and her time is running out. She now possesses a great weapon to fend some of them off, but not all of them.”
“Desheret-Nemes?”
“The Old King, yes, and his armies. The harsh elements of the valley. The administration of her lands. The discontents within them. Her rivals to the west.”
“Rivals to the west… you mean, you? is that what this is? Did she send the visions to lure Hester in as a… hostage? Or a husband?”
“It has crossed my mind. We do not know.”
“And with that as a possibility, Joan is going to let him go anyway?”
“Joan and Hester never turn from the path of justice. They are to be commended for it,” Magister Ai said with a tired sigh.
“Yes,” I agreed, hoping to convey boundless commiseration in my tone of voice. “It remains for the rest of us to keep up. Or help navigate.”
“Spoken like one worthy of his vocation,” Magister Ai said.
“Thank you, but…”
“You will not be sleeping tonight. Do you need for anything before we study? Shall we summon the page?”
“What?”
“It is within my power to confer upon you the title of wizard, Horwendell of Ilianath. I deem it to be right and fitting.”
“What? Isn’t this all very sudden? I’m still attending to the last of my studies…”
Magister Akabu Ai stood square to me and looked me in the eye. “Your duties arise just as suddenly and, as they often do, before the desired attainments. If you go east with the lord heir, you will emerge a wizard, self-evidently worthy of the honors, or you will perish.”
“It’s hard to argue with that,” I said with a wince. “What will we be studying all night? What’s so important?”
“You will learn the Communion.”
So it was that I woke Gena up myself, fog-headed, impetuous, and not altogether my normal self.
She cracked the door to her guest room and met my eyes. She looked like she hadn’t slept well either, her shoulders drawn tight under her heavy sleeping gown and her face drawn tight under her hair (also, as it happened, drawn back tight).
“Howe? I’ve never known you to be up before breakfast.”
“Gena! I know where to get to the Halls.”
Gena paused for a beat. She looked less tired now. “Tell me.”
I relayed what I had learned about the Battle for Black Ridge: the eastern account of Ae’s sortie, largely unknown in the west.
“If we were looking for a place of deep meaning…” I was saying.
“… Where else but the site of her greatest military victory? And the only place she is known to have taken up arms herself?” Gena finished.
“Exactly.”
“But why leave it out of the Word?”
“To hide the Doctrina Tempestas, perhaps. Or, if not, maybe the Halls or their entrance might hold clues to that.”
“That pass may be our route to the valley anyway. Fortuitous, if so. Let’s ask Hester.” She made to step out of the door into the hall to lead on.
“First!” I said, stopping her. “How is it with the lady? You’ve been distant. Still.”
Gena pulled up to a halt, startled. “I… it is much the same. The world the she shows me is mesmerizing. I am torn between its manifest reality and its… necessary, perhaps, paleness when compared to this one. It remains a tough question.”
“But how is it with the lady?”
Gena glared at me. She paused, for too long a time, before stating: “well enough. She thinks she may yet have my service. As long as she does, she gives knowledge with a free hand. Maybe it will help.”
“And shall she have your service?”
Gena’s eyes narrowed. “Howe.”
“Say no, then,” I said. Or maybe I heard myself saying it. I was so tired I almost felt as though I were watching from somewhere behind and over the shoulder of whoever this madman was who was so determined to sate his curiosity that he’d court Gena’s rage like this.
Her glare deepened.
But before she could open her mouth to speak, I barrelled on. “You can say maybe. Trust me. Trust me, trust me.”
“And what if I do?” she said.
“Then it is only natural,” I mused.
“…Are you all right?” Gena said. Her teeth were gritted but her eyebrows had lifted perceptibly from “dagger-sharp pique” to “steely inquisition.” “I trust you, Howe, I have to. But why ask questions like that, now?”
“I need to know, is all. The more I know, the more peaks on the ridge, the more I might see.”
Gena leaned forward and peered into my eyes. “Wizard or not, this isn’t like you. Are you… you haven’t slept, have you?”
“Apprentice! Wizard! But not for long, I hope. Or perhaps… I fear.”
Desheret-Nemes’ law is uniform throughout his kingdom and bears a great deal of similarity to the legal regimes of the seven kingdoms. The difference is in the severity of the punishments and the precision and zeal with which he, personally, prosecutes offenders within the jurisdictions dearest to him. ↩