A sigil is a part of a runestone that allows a channeller to store ?ther to empower the spell. The most common example is a sun sigil, which can be charged with ?ther to empower the light spell contained within for an entire night. Sigils also allow a channeller to add more ?ther to a runestone while not affecting the spell itself, thus eliminating the need to dispel and recast. This process is known as inscribing.

  Excerpt from 'Introduction to the Workings of Magic'

  “We cannot wait, Karan,” Luminary Sill Yerwede said as he slowly stirred his tea. “We have to get inside before anyone else.”

  Karan studied Sill's round face, trying to decide if Callium's archmagister was joking. Sill paid no attention to Karan's inquisitive stare, instead drinking his tea in the meticulous manner of someone controlling his every movement lest he seem crude or unrefined.

  He isn't joking, Karan realized. He really wants us to try to go back in there after everything that's happened. This time even without the Crown's permission.

  It was a terrible idea, of course. Apart from the risk of being found out by the Royal Guard, there was still the matter of the group that attacked them. Nonetheless, Karan knew that any objection he made was going to fall on deaf ears. Once Sill Yerwede made up his mind, he could not be swayed.

  If I can't talk him out of it, I might as well indulge him.

  “It's going to be difficult,” Karan said. “There are Royal Guard lances at the White Candle at all times now.”

  Sill put down his cup and then waved his hand as if warding off a fly. “There are only two of them. Mere casters. They can be fooled easily.”

  Karan sighed audibly. As he'd expected, the great Luminary of Callium would not be stopped by such trivialities. After all, it was never Sill Yerwede who had to resolve them. He sends people like me to do that. People of actual competence.

  Sill took no notice of Karan's sigh, instead occupying himself with the platter on the edge of his desk that held various little cakes.

  Karan turned away from the balding and pudgy archmagister and let his gaze drift around Sill's lavishly decorated study. Expensive goods and impressive-looking items covered every surface in the room.

  There was a Hastian-crafted silver mirror with an elaborately decorated ebony and gold frame; a priceless artefact from before the Second Bane. Next to it hung an ancient map of Gerios covered with rich and colourful illustrations: the work of a famous cartographer, though Karan could not recall his name. The other walls held similar artefacts or works of art by many famous artists, either living or long dead. Even the carpet beneath Karan's feet was a pure-spun cloudweave of Vashirr make. A modest one of these was worth a small fortune. The one in Sill's study covered nearly the entire floor.

  Nothing in here is actually useful to a magister, Karan thought. It befits him.

  Even so, despite his misgivings about Sill's command and the man himself, Karan wasn't in a position to refuse Callium's archmagister. All he could do was try to find a solution to a problem that, at first glance, appeared insoluble.

  Karan focused on a painting of the Lacine, the river that flowed through Rios, and started to arrange all the potential difficulties in his head.

  The biggest hurdle will be the Royal Guard, Karan mused. Sill's suggestion that they could be easily fooled was just ludicrous. The Royal Guard was reformed after the Callium Imperatus Schism for the express purpose of keeping watch on every magic user within the city limits and suppressing them when needed. Of all the adversaries that could guard the White Candle sanctum, they were without a doubt the hardest ones to fool.

  Karan turned back to the archmagister, who was now busying himself with a ruby-encrusted snuff box. Does he actually believe the things that come out of his mouth?

  Nonetheless, subterfuge was the only viable option to come even close to achieving Sill's task. Using any form of force would not end well, as the recent attack clearly demonstrated.

  “I need to put some thought into it,” Karan eventually said.

  “Find some way, Karan,” Sill replied, without looking up. “Once we secure the wealth contained within, we can turn our attention to the lesser guilds. They will pay for what they did to us.”

  Did to us? Did to me, you mean. You weren't the one at the White Candle while we were under attack. He felt a twinge of anger, but forced himself to keep it hidden. “I'll see what I can do.”

  “Make sure you do,” Sill said, giving Karan a menacing stare. “If you don't get me the results I want, I will find someone else who will.”

  Again, Karan kept his expression in check, only this time it was to suppress his urge to laugh. Find someone else? You couldn't find anyone willing or capable to take this assignment in the first place. And now you think that suddenly someone will? After we were attacked like that? You truly are a witless oaf, Sill.

  Karan nodded with a polite smile. “I will figure something out. Was there anything else?”

  Sill waved his hand in a dismissive manner. “You can go.”

  As Karan descended the stairs that led down from the archmagister's study on the top floor, he allowed himself to smile. He had his own plans with regards to White Candle's sanctum, and those plans did not involve the greater glory of Callium. I gave the best years of my life to this guild and what did I get in return? Nothing. Not even a modicum of respect.

  Fortunately, Sill had played right into his hands by ordering him to ignore King Darych's latest command and continue the breach; Karan had some plans of his own for the contents of the sanctum.

  This did not make the task any less difficult, however. Between the now ever-present Royal Guard and the possibility of another attack, the original problem remained as well; the still-unresolved disappearance of the White Candle magistrae.

  In the minds of Sill and the rest of the Callium inner circle, they were already dead and buried. To them, the sanctum was nothing more than a grave waiting to be robbed as soon as possible. They only had eyes for the potential rewards, not the risks.

  Karan, however, felt differently. To him it was a place where something of great magnitude and importance happened. Great enough for at least two dozen high-tier channellers to mount an all-out assault in an attempt to gain entry.

  I can't imagine what it was they hoped to find in there, but I do know that I will be the one who gets it first. My own future depends on it, after all.

  Once he reached the bottom of the main stairs, he moved towards the lower study wings, a set of sprawling hallways each flanked with many small doors leading to equally small chambers. These chambers were where the guild's actual work was being done, unlike the shining top floor studies the inner circle was using. The guild's many adepts and lower-ranked magisters toiled away here far out of sight of any visitors or the archmagister and his sycophant lackeys.

  Upon entering the study wings, Karan arranged his expression into one of hurried impatience as he paced through the hallways. While no member of the inner circle would ever come here unless they absolutely had to, they had plenty of eyes and ears in the form of adepts who were looking for a quick way to gain favour. Anything he did here would end up being told to the archmagister eventually, including the names of everyone he would be speaking to. For this reason, Karan entered several studies only to exchange some meaningless banter with its occupants; all to make it less obvious what his true destination was.

  “Who is it?” a trembling voice answered when Karan eventually knocked on the door of the man he wanted to speak to.

  “It's Karan.”

  “Come in.”

  Karan swung the door open, revealing a small study room filled with bookshelves along every wall. There was even one in front of the room's only window, making it much darker than it should be. In the centre of the room stood a small desk with an old man behind it, barely visible as stacks of books and other papers hid him from sight.

  “Magister Vae, how have you been doing?” Karan asked, closing the door behind him.

  “Fine, fine,” the old man said as he closed the book he was reading. “There should be another chair here somewhere I think...”

  He murmured something else that Karan could not make out.

  Magister Htanni Vae was the oldest magister in the guild and thus also its oldest member at the age of ninety-two. Usually magistrae retired years before that, but Htanni held to the old days when magistrae believed their ability was a gift and that they should practise it until the day they died.

  Fortunately for Htanni, he had managed to avoid most of the problems that came with age and his eyes retained the vigour that Karan remembered from when Karan was an adept himself.

  Karan lifted up a collection of books and rolled-up maps from a chair. “I found it.”

  “Oh good,” Htanni said, as Karan sat down. “But where are my manners, I should ask how you are doing instead. Such a terrible thing that happened at the Candle. So many lives lost.” Sadness filled the magister's eyes.

  “All things considered, we came out alright,” Karan replied. “Though I agree it could have been much worse.”

  “Indeed it could. Hearing about it took me back to the Schism that broke our guild. A tragedy that was as well.” His gaze became unfocused as he seemingly recalled something from his past.

  Karan waited patiently, having grown accustomed to the old magister's behaviour. While Htanni was normally focused and lucid, there were other times like this one where he drifted off into one of the many memories of his long life. He had been past his prime even before the Schism happened, and that was almost forty years ago. These days, Callium only trotted him out if they needed to emphasize the great and diverse history of their guild; apart from that, they just left him here in this small room, working on research nobody except Htanni himself cared about.

  In a way, this made him the perfect ally to further Karan's own ambitions as nobody, not even the snitches, paid any attention to what Htanni did.

  “Htanni,” Karan said with a sharp voice in an attempt to pull him from his musings. “I need some additional help for what we talked about.”

  “Hmmm? Oh yes. We can talk about that.” He tapped the runestone lying on his desk that indicated he had already cast the Voicesphere spell held within. “Help with the breaching, yes?” He paused and stared at Karan for a moment, seemingly confused. “Didn't I already help you with that?”

  Karan sighed. Every time Htanni got lost in one of his trips into the past, he also lost track of what was current and what was not. It wasn't so much forgetfulness, but more that he failed to place his memories in the correct order.

  “You did,” Karan reminded him. “And the sanctum is already breached, or at least the outer door is.” He flicked a piece of dust from his sleeve. “The current problem is that the King commanded that the breaching is to be halted for the time being until more is learned about the attackers. And he stationed several lances of the Royal Guard at the White Candle to enforce it.”

  “Oh, I see,” Htanni said, nodding vigorously. “That is a problem.” He riffled through a stack of papers in front of him. “Shouldn't we just wait, then?”

  “The archmagister has ordered me to proceed regardless, though I cannot fathom why he wants to do that. If we get caught, the King will have all our heads.”

  “And he should,” Htanni said, frowning. “I feel ill at ease to even contemplate such a shameless raiding of the secrets of a fellow guild.”

  “I agree completely, yet this still may be a good opportunity for us.”

  Htanni looked Karan in the eyes. “If you do this and something goes wrong, Archmagister Yerwede will pin it on you, you know. He won't speak on your behalf when it's an act against the Crown.”

  The sudden lucidness and the truth of the remark sent a jolt through Karan. By the ?ther, he's right. If I screw up, Sill will sacrifice me as a scapegoat without batting an eye.

  Karan sunk back into his chair, causing a dust cloud to erupt from the back cushion. He was keenly aware that he wasn't popular with Sill or anyone else in the inner circle, and this could be just the pretence they needed to get rid of him.

  I didn't think about this at all. I've only been busy with the breaching, and then that attack happened. If I'm not careful, I might be struck down from within the guild itself.

  The truth was that Karan's position within Callium had become increasingly problematic over the last few moons. Adepts badmouthed him, and he found it harder and harder to obtain resources for his research, being stonewalled at every opportunity.

  Karan knew this was the result of him speaking his mind, and his lack of restraint when it came to criticizing the actions of certain higher-placed members who did not appreciate his forthrightness.

  Fortunately, Karan had avoided any serious repercussions because he had made himself indispensable to the guild. This had been proven again by him being the only real choice to perform the breach into the White Candle sanctum.

  Nonetheless, Sill and his inner circle had started to believe otherwise lately; their perception of reality was shifting from what it was to what they thought it should be. As a result, Karan had begun taking steps to protect himself. He had spent the past few moons gathering evidence of the inner circle's less savoury endeavours and carefully reviewing who in the guild was displeased with Callium's current leadership.

  Unfortunately, it turned out that while evidence was plentiful, support was not.

  Karan's expression turned grim. He had hoped that the mere threat of exposing the inner circle would be sufficient to keep them in line, yet Sill's earlier remark about 'replacing him' pointed to the outcome Htanni spoke of. They can't lose. Either I succeed and they reap the benefits, or I fail and they are rid of me. Even if I protest, nobody will believe someone who violated another guild's sanctum.

  “I had not considered that,” Karan eventually said. “I assumed I had at least another few moons before their delusions of grandeur would finally overtake them.”

  “It would be ironic,” Htanni said, “to have the event that could save you become your bane instead.”

  Anger flashed across Karan's face. “They honestly believe they can replace me? Do they even know what it takes to keep this guild running?”

  “Everyone can be replaced Karan,” Htanni answered in a solemn voice. “The guild will go on without you.”

  “I know that,” Karan said, making a dismissive gesture. “That's not my grievance. It's about being replaced by some sycophantic freshly instated magister with only a fraction of my skill. Everything I worked to build here will be ruined within a year.” He clenched his hands as he vented his anger. “But that's not even the worst part. No, the worst part is that the inner circle will claim my replacement will be better for the guild in the long run and they will actually believe that.” A loud sneeze followed Karan's last statement as his nose filled with thrown-up dust.

  Htanni sighed. “It is a sad truth. It's no longer about one's true merit, but merely about how competent one appears to be. This was never so before the Schism.”

  Karan wiped his nose and tried to calm himself. If he was going to go on like this, he would start to become angry with Htanni as well. What he needed right now more than anything was a sharp mind and focus unaffected by the flames of anger.

  He rubbed the bridge of his nose. “I need this to be over and done with.”

  “I understand,” Htanni said, folding his bony hands together. “You said you needed help with a Royal Guard lance?”

  “Yes, at least two of them. They're stationed at the White Candle for the sole purpose of preventing anyone entering the sanctum, so you can see our problem.”

  Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

  ”Indeed, I can,” Htanni said, adjusting his glasses. “That is going to make your task difficult.”

  “It's going to make it impossible,” Karan snapped with more venom than he intended. “I wouldn't even make it into the tower—let alone the sanctum—without them noticing. At least not with any means I can think of.”

  Htanni ignored Karan's angry tone. “Then perhaps we should let them notice?”

  Karan stared at Htanni, confused. “Let them notice?”

  “I was recalling a titbit a somewhat disreputable character told me a long time ago. He said that the best place to hide was in plain sight because if they can already see you, they won't look for you.”

  Karan looked bewildered. “That... doesn't make much sense.”

  “It means that if you want to enter the sanctum, you must do so while the Royal Guard is watching you; or more accurately, while they believe they are watching you.”

  Karan still didn't understand where Htanni was going with this. “Coming up with a pretence to enter the White Candle I can do, but how do you propose we actually enter the sanctum? Using any sort of Illusion magic is out of the question as they will most certainly be scrying for that.”

  Htanni stuck a finger up in the air as if he was teaching a class of adepts from behind a lectern. “The Illusion dyad is not the only one that can provide us with such means. There are others.”

  Htanni rose from his chair and shuffled towards a small commode that was buried beneath a pile of books. There he pulled out one of the drawers, sending another puff of dust into the air.

  Karan wriggled his nose to avoid another sneeze. Doesn't he ever let the servants clean in here? This much dust can't be good for anyone.

  After a bit of rummaging around, Htanni eventually retrieved a runestone the size of a dinner plate, which he presented to Karan. “This can help you.”

  “What is it?” Karan asked as he took hold of the stone, finding it heavier than he expected. “Isn't this an old runestone crafted according to the Thonill method?”

  Htanni nodded sagely. “It is.”

  Karan inspected the runestone. How old is this thing? They stopped using that crafting method at least thirty years ago. He flipped it over several times to look for the crafter monogram.

  Htanni watched as Karan studied the stone. “You won't find any markings on that stone, though I can assure you it was forged exactly as proposed by Thonill in his famous treatise.”

  “'?ther Interactions through Compounded Matter',” Karan stated without thinking. It was Thonill's most celebrated work and required reading for any magistrae It held the theory that was the foundation for rune forging, which in turn formed the catalyst for the Callium Imperatus Schism. The crafting methods described within were outdated, yet the core theory remained at the base of every rune forged since.

  Karan weighed the stone in both hands. “So how will this relic help me? Does it still work?”

  “Work?” Htanni said with a bemused look. “There are many flaws within Thonill's original crafting method, but faulty cohesion isn't one of them. We have near a hundred of this type of runestone in our sanctum vault, and I can assure you that every last one of them will still work as well as it did on the day of forging.”

  “So why isn't this one in the vault?” Karan asked, but instantly regretted the question; he watched Htanni's eyes glaze over as he dove into another one of his memories.

  Fortunately, this time the remembrance lasted only a short time.

  “I have some personal attachment to this stone,” Htanni said with a hint of sadness.

  “Are you certain you want me to use it, then?”

  “Yes. The man who created this stone, a great mage of the World dyad, would want to see his work used rather than gathering dust in an old man's study.”

  “The World dyad?” Karan asked, as he raised the stone closer to his eyes as if to see into the intricate layer of ley lines that lay beneath its surface.

  “This surprises you.”

  “It does. If not Illusion, I would have expected something from the Alteration or the Dream dyad instead.”

  “Is it not suitable then? If you would not expect this, then why should the Royal Guard?”

  “They are probably more careful than me,” Karan said as he lowered the stone. “But what exactly does it do, and can I even use it? Aspect is one of my sacrificial elements.”

  “That will not be a problem,” Htanni said, smiling reassuringly. “There is only one point of concern regarding the spell contained within, and that is that it requires a specific form of preparation. So listen closely for a while.”

  Later that day, Karan found himself stepping out of a carriage on Candle Square and looking up at the tall tower that dominated it. The marble and lime walls gleamed in the midday sun, and the golden hands of the backlit clock that symbolized the White Candle's flame still advanced at a steady pace.

  At the tower's base, some workers were busy near the main entrance and Karan saw the destroyed doors lying on a low cart slightly further ahead.

  Looks like someone realized that having a large gaping hole doesn't contribute to defensibility, he thought before sniggering. It's not like anyone had any trouble with the doors last time.

  He turned his attention back to the reason he was here. The plan Htanni had suggested was risky, but possible. It was something Karan wouldn't have imagined.

  Yet there were many steps to take, each liable to fail, the first one being one of the reasons he was here: he needed an excuse for Callium to be at the sanctum entrance for an extended period of time.

  Halfway up the stairway a Royal Guard leaned against the rail, watching Karan carefully as he approached. Karan recognized him as one of the members of Fifth Lance.

  Dovell probably arranged to be one of the lances stationed here. That's just like him.

  “Is Guard-captain Messchiel inside?” he asked the guard.

  “He's at the other side of the tower,” the guard said as he eyed Karan's formal robe. “They are busy sealing the warehouse entrance. So you best go around.”

  “Thank you.” With the guard's stare following him as he walked away, Karan was struck by the emptiness of Candle Square. Apart from two nervous-looking workmen smoking reeds, there wasn't a soul in sight. Normally on a day like this, there would be many stalls here with vendors peddling trinkets and snacks to the affluent members of the city who resided in the Amber Quarter.

  It will be a while before people will dare to come here again.

  Making his way around the White Candle, Karan realized that it wasn't just the square that was empty. Most of the homes and mansions he passed had their windows shuttered and the streets were abandoned. It appeared that many of the city's wealthier citizens had decided to stay elsewhere until the current crisis was resolved.

  At the back of the White Candle, Karan immediately spotted Dovell thanks to the greatsword on his back. The guard-captain saw him in turn.

  “Guard-captain Messchiel,” Karan said as he approached.

  “Magister De Ekkar,” the guard-captain responded dryly, looking at him with distrust.

  Karan was used to Dovell's hostile attitude, so he didn't take offence. “Not many people around at this time of day,” he said in a polite voice. “It appears most of the local residents thought it more prudent to await the outcome of this conflict elsewhere.”

  “A sensible decision,” Dovell answered as he looked past Karan to the empty street behind. “Like you said, they are expecting that the worst is yet to come.”

  “I said that?”

  “Back in the tower. When we were standing in front of the sanctum.”

  “Ah, yes. I recall. That wasn't entirely what I meant, though. I was referring to what the attack implies about the situation inside the sanctum itself.”

  “It implies danger. Hence the empty homes.”

  “That I can agree with. But danger from whom or what? Have our intrepid friends at the Whisper managed to dig up any answers?”

  “Not that I know of. Doesn't Callium have an information web they can use?”

  “They have not discovered anything, I'm afraid,” Karan said, keeping his face in check as he had a good mocking laugh inside.

  Our information web? I would be surprised if they even tried to look into it. The Callium information web of snitches and contacts had become a shadow of its former self years ago after magister Kern passed away. The magister currently in charge of the web had gained the position based on politics rather than skill and the web had deteriorated rapidly afterwards. At the moment, it was little better than having nothing.

  Dovell crossed his arms. “What is the purpose of your visit here?”

  “Ah yes,” Karan said. “I wanted to check up on the barrier.”

  “You know that the breaching is postponed for now? The King's command.”

  “I'm well aware; that's why I'm here. As I told you before, that barrier is the only thing separating the sanctum from the outside, and we should make certain it stays that way. Especially in the light of our dark assailants, if you pardon the pun.”

  Dovell did not laugh at Karan's joke. He simply stared in silence at the workmen covering up the gaping hole that used to hold the loading doors.

  “Very well,” Dovell finally said. “But first I need to know something.” He beckoned Karan to follow him.

  They stepped into the warehouse where Karan found the large room in chaos. Barrels were overturned, crates smashed, and wood splinters and broken glass were everywhere. All of this was accompanied by an unpleasant smell of rotting flesh. Two members of Fifth Lance where standing near a large red-brown spot near a support pillar.

  “Have you heard about what happened here?” Dovell asked.

  “I was just about to ask,” Karan said. “I did not visit this part of the tower after the attack as Second Lance shepherded us out through the main entrance. But considering the look of the place, I'm assuming they used force to enter.”

  Dovell motioned towards the warehouse doors. “Were those warded?”

  “They were not,” Karan answered. “Not by us at least. We only placed warning sigils on and near the doors. Nevertheless, there might have been some White Candle wards present which hadn't expired yet.”

  “Why did they use this much force to enter? Don't you find that odd?”

  “Odd? Why? It served its purpose as a distraction.”

  “Distraction,” Dovell repeated before running his gaze around the room. “A little excessive, don't you think?”

  Karan felt confused about what Dovell was getting at. “What else could it be?”

  “You don't think it would have been more advantageous for them to enter without anyone noticing? Not to mention that the explosion alerted the entire Amber Quarter.”

  He's right about that, but why ask me about this? “Maybe they couldn't avoid triggering the warning sigils, or maybe they were worried that there was an ambush lying in wait.”

  “Did you know we found two corpses here?” Dovell said, abruptly changing the subject. “Two Callium adepts.”

  “Yes,” Karan recalled. “Priskell and Tavion. They were tasked with keeping the warning sigils charged. I heard that they died.” He waved his hand. “Is there a point to this line of questions?”

  “The explosion that shattered the doors and created this mess originated from within here, not from the outside.” Dovell pointed at the dirty spot on the floor. “Or more specifically, it originated from Tavion, who was left in a thousand pieces.”

  “Tavion exploded?” Karan asked, now realizing what the dark spot was.

  “That is the question I want you to answer. We inferred from the debris that Tavion here was the source of the explosion and that the small access door in the larger loading door was open. So what happened? Did someone do this to him or did he do it to himself?”

  “Who would do this to himself—?” Karan started, before stopping himself. No wait, wasn't Tavion that screw-up who failed most of his threading classes?

  “You have something to share?” Dovell asked with an insincere smile.

  “Maybe,” Karan said. “I just recalled that Tavion, despite having a strong talent, wasn't very good at weaving. It might be possible he wanted to cast Major Projected Force and screwed up the projection part.”

  “And that would lead to this?” Dovell asked.

  “If you don't project the spell properly, the force starts where the ?ther is gathered. If Tavion was panicking, he probably poured ?ther from his entire body into the spell, leading to...” He gestured towards the bloodstain.

  “Good,” Dovell said, “that's the same conclusion we reached.”

  Karan felt peeved. He already knew? “Then why ask me about it?”

  “Just a formality,” Dovell said with a distrustful glimmer in his eyes. “In any case, you should be grateful to Tavion as it was this explosion that made us come here in the first place.”

  Grateful he says, Karan thought. Compared to some of the other things that happened that night, I'd say it was a minor blessing at best.

  He did not voice his opinion, as he wasn't here to pick a fight with the guard-captain. He's wary enough of me as it is. Convincing him will be most troublesome.

  “If we are done here, I would like to be taken to the sanctum.”

  Dovell looked at him and then beckoned to one of the two guards. “Tobiac, go with the magister and make certain you keep an eye on him.”

  He doesn't even try to hide that he doesn't trust me.

  Accompanied by the guard, Karan made his way to the stairway that led down to the sanctum. As he descended the stair, the now familiar smell of burnt flesh immediately worked its way into Karan's nose. Even though the corpses had been removed, the burn marks and the smell remained.

  He felt a shiver running down his back. It appeared that the attack had affected him more than he thought.

  The lower lounge where they had made their stand was still exactly as he had left it three nights ago, crushed furniture and all.

  Again Karan felt a shiver and quickly moved on towards the sanctum, where a tap on the empty space in the doorway confirmed that the barrier was still active.

  Good. Time for the next step, then.

  He retrieved a scrying stone from his robe and held it against one of the ley points where the barrier emerged from the doorpost.

  “You might want to pull in a chair from the lounge,” Karan said without looking back. “This is going to take a while.”

  “Weren't you just going to check the barrier strength?” Tobiac said, with a hint of suspicion in his voice. “Why would that take long?”

  As I thought, these men are not stupid.

  Karan arranged his face into a stern expression before turning around to face Tobiac. “Just checking the strength of the barrier is not why I need time.” He turned the scrying stone around and viewed the coloured lines. “In fact, I can already tell you that its strength did not diminish.”

  “Then what do you need time for?”

  “I need to make certain the attackers didn't tamper with it somehow or perhaps did something to the other wards. They did have time to do that, you know.” He narrowed his eyes a bit. “Or do you perhaps feel we don't need to be so thorough?”

  “No, I understand,” Tobiac said, yet the tone of his voice still betrayed his discomfort.

  He doesn't trust me, as I expected. Dovell probably described me to his men in many unflattering words.

  He retrieved some more runestones from his robe. “You can watch as closely as you want. I merely ask you to remain silent. Noise disrupts my concentration.”

  Tobiac nodded and leaned against the wall, unwilling to even take the brief time to retrieve a chair from the nearby lounge.

  Not going to take your eyes off me, I take it? Well, that doesn't matter for what I'm here to do.

  During the two hours that followed, Karan inspected every single aspect of the sanctum's defences, with an ever-increasing look of worry on his face. Or at least that was how it appeared to Tobiac. In reality, Karan was laying the groundwork for the theatrics that were about to follow.

  “This isn't good,” he finally announced with great concern. “This is not good at all.”

  “Something is wrong?” Tobiac asked.

  “Yes. The sanctum wards are losing cohesion. It's not much, but it's happening.”

  “Didn't you say the barrier strength was the same?”

  “That barrier is my own work. I subverted it from the existing barrier ward and added some things to keep it at full strength at all times. Yet the remaining sanctum wards are definitely weakening.”

  He turned around to look at Tobiac with his face showing a well-balanced mix of seriousness and worry.

  “I need to speak with Guard-captain Messchiel immediately.”

  “Let's go then.”

  The guard-captain was no longer in the warehouse. Instead, they found him in one of the first-floor study rooms where he was pawing through some books.

  He took immediate note of their distressed look. “Something is wrong,” he stated with a calm voice. It appeared he had been expecting this.

  “The sanctum is losing cohesion. Its wards are failing,” Karan stated bluntly.

  Dovell remained silent for a moment, his face showing he had realized the gravity of what Karan had said immediately. “How long will they hold?”

  “Three days at most. I could tell that the cohesion loss is accelerating.”

  “Three days? Aren't sanctum wards supposed to last several weeks at the least?”

  “They are.”

  “Then what happened?” Dovell demanded.

  “I don't know. It could be anything. Something the attackers did. Or something inside the sanctum itself eating away at it. All I know is that the wards are weaker now than they were before.”

  Dovell closed the book he was holding and put it onto a nearby shelf. “Tobiac, go find Rooy or Bastian and bring him here.”

  “Sir,” Tobiac answered, leaving the room and closing the door behind him.

  “It's just us now,” Dovell said, as he positioned himself in front of Karan. “I know you aren't telling me everything, Karan. Magistrae always act shifty like this when they are trying to hide something. I've seen this act more times than I care to remember.”

  “You think I'm hiding something?” Karan answered, meeting Dovell's gaze. “This is a serious situation.”

  “If true, then yes,” Dovell said as he raised a gloved hand to his chin. “Unfortunately, I'm in no position to confirm anything you said, and I can't ask another guild to come in here and take a look because they are all suspects with regard to the attack. Yet I can see you are hiding something from me, so spill it.”

  Karan pretended to squirm for a moment. “Very well, I'll tell you. But don't go spreading this around.”

  Dovell seemed content with his minor victory. “Tell me.”

  “I do know what the cause of the decay is. It's the change I made to the barrier.”

  “Your barrier,” Dovell said, emphasizing the first word.

  “Yes, my thrice-cursed barrier,” Karan snapped. “The one that was supposed to be a temporary measure. Not a last line of defence. I reinforced it to be stronger than usual in case problems arose from within the sanctum.”

  “What's wrong with it?”

  “Nothing is wrong with it. It just needs more ?ther than the original barrier; hence it is slowly draining the supply stored in the otherwise carefully balanced wards. As I said, it was never intended to stay active for this long.”

  “How are you going to fix this?”

  He certainly wastes no time pinning the blame on me. If only he knew that he is playing right into my hands.

  Karan sighed and rubbed his forehead. “I will need to eliminate the barrier entirely for a moment and then recreate it so it matches its original form again.”

  Dovell's gaze grew cold. “That means the sanctum will be breached, which the King has forbidden.”

  “I understand, but subverting it back to the way it was without eliminating it first is simply not possible. We do not have to enter the sanctum itself; everything can be done at the entrance.”

  “What about recharging the wards?”

  “There are no access points for that on the outside, because as you know, they make it far easier to drain and subvert wards, and randomly pouring ?ther into the outer ley lines is liable to disrupt the balance even further.

  “How long will your proposal take?”

  “Not long. An hour at most. I require my notes and some assistance though, and some time to prepare.”

  “Then start those preparations. I shall speak to the King to see if your assistance will be needed.”

  “Very well,” Karan said. “I will take my leave then.”

  It wasn't until he was well away from the White Candle and all the way back in Htanni's study room that Karan dropped his distressed look and replaced it with a subdued smile.

  “It went well?” Htanni said, grasping a large cup of soup in his hands.

  “Yes,” Karan said as he retrieved the large runestone Htanni had given him from his robe. “Although I sincerely hope this spell will work as you said.”

  Htanni took a careful sip from his cup. “It will. Was there no to trouble with the guards at all?”

  “They eyed me like hawks as we expected, and I'm certain Dovell didn't believe a word of anything I said.” He carefully placed the runestone on Htanni's desk.

  “Ah, Guard-captain Messchiel. I know him. He has good reason to be wary of any weaver after what happened to his wife. How long ago was that? Such a sad thing to happen to young lovers.”

  Karan shrugged. “It doesn't matter. Regardless of his personal opinion of me, he will take every precaution to make certain nothing enters or exits that sanctum.” He tapped on Htanni's runestone. “Provided this works and we can lower the barrier, then gaining access to the sanctum undetected is a given.”

  “Did you inform the archmagister about your visit? The Crown is going to contact him about this.”

  A smile crept across Karan's face. “I've told him that I've taken the first steps. Let him stay in the dark. If he's confronted on it, he will spin some kind of nonsense story regardless.”

  Htanni lowered his cup and gave Karan a concerned look. “Are you sure you want to do this? If you are to fail, your life as a magister will be over, and I have high hopes for your future.”

  “What other choice do I have?” Karan asked with grim determination. “I need whatever is in that sanctum. Their spelltomes, their grimoires, every runestone I can find.” His voice trailed off as he imagined the wealth hidden away there.

  “You could consider joining another guild. Guilds are always looking to gain an experienced and hard-working magister.”

  A bitter laugh escaped Karan's mouth. “Certainly they are. Unless that magister is from Callium.”

  He spread his arms as if to encompass the building around him. “Neither the Daughters or the Lyceum would ever take me because of that. Not without a cache of White Candle secrets on my back, and that's why I need this to work.”

  “I'm aware. I was talking about any of the minor guilds in one of the outward cities.”

  “They are all affiliated with one of this city's guilds somehow, or so small that they are inconsequential.” Karan waved his hands in a dismissive manner. “I have no intention to spend the rest of my years in some heathland at the edge of the kingdom weaving spells that even an adept could do here. I know some magistrae are drawn to such a life so that they can impress the peasants, but that's not for me.”

  “I see you are determined to see this through,” Htanni said with an approving nod. “Let us start with the preparations, then. We still need to recruit some additional hands for our own, non-sanctioned part of the operation.”

  Karan squeezed his hands into fists and placed them on his lap. It's sink or swim from now on.