The introduction of runestones had some darker effects as well. It served as the trigger for several brewing conflicts within Callium Imperatus, which in turn led to the well-known Schism of the same name. This divide heralded the end of one of Rios' foremost guilds and the birth of two new ones: Callium and the Daughters of Ashira, who both shed themselves of the old ways long embraced during the Age of Enlightenment.

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

  “That's it?” Maria said, studying the two adepts in front of her with a stern look of disapproval.

  “I'm sorry, Magistra,” said Jessie, the adept to Maria's left.

  “It was dark and we couldn't see very well,” added Katinka, the adept to her right.

  Maria wasn't pleased. The two young women in front of her had been watching a Callium haunt last night when a ghast appeared near the White Candle. There had been a lot of activity at that haunt, but despite the many words Jessie had used to convey what they had seen, it came down to a mere two things. A carriage filled with Callium guild members had left the haunt, and it had returned near dawn.

  What good is that to me? I still don't know what those men did or where they even went. Instead of delivering the information Maria desperately wanted, these two had just wasted several days' worth of work.

  “The whole point of you two being there was to see something,” Maria bristled. “Something useful. There was a ghast on the loose, for Ashira's sake. Do you know how much trouble it was to even find that haunt?”

  Both adepts looked down at their meekly folded hands, perfect images of penance and regret.

  Maria rubbed the bridge of her nose. Oh, this is pointless. She gave the two adepts one last hard stare and then dismissed them with a wave of her hand.

  “Just go.”

  Jolene, who shared Maria's study, watched them leave. “What did you expect?” she asked after they closed the door. “That they would embark on a wild hunt through the city following some of Callium's thugs?”

  Maria eyed Jolene as if trying to find out if she was making fun of her.

  “Don't give me that look,” Jolene said, frowning. “You know I'm right.”

  “I expected some initiative from them,” Maria said. “This isn't an army of soldiers who only do as ordered and not a shred more.”

  “Correct me if I'm wrong,” Jolene said with a mocking tone, “but I recall a certain magistra giving an impassioned speech on how the guild should be more militant in their dealings, and shortly afterwards we declared vendetta against Callium.”

  “That has nothing to do with this,” Maria said, as she got up from her chair and started to pace back and forth in the small space between their two desks. “Declaring vendetta was the right thing to do. You know that; most of the people in the guild know that.”

  “Indeed,” Jolene said, placing her chin on her hands, “but there are those who do not. Or do not want to. Like Magistra Valari who's in charge of assigning adepts to magistrae. Adepts like those two you just berated.”

  Maria halted. Magistra Valari—of course, that old bat.

  She was one of the faithful, and Maria had come to learn over the past two weeks that they held far more power in the guild than she had expected.

  Jolene leaned back in her chair. “We only won that vote by two. Not the most stable of positions, and the faithful know it.”

  “But it's still a two-thirds majority,” Maria countered. “If you take a look at what I actually managed to do, it might as well have been the other way around. Sometimes I feel there are more people working against me than with me.”

  She spread out her arms. “I mean, look at all the things that happened since we started this. The attack at the White Candle, the ghast last night, and our only involvement in all of it is that we are blamed for it.”

  “You're preaching to the wrong person here,” Jolene said, making a deflecting gesture. “My point is that the faithful are a tight-knit group that you can't expect to just give their full support. A vendetta goes against too many things they believe in.”

  “I know, I'm sorry,” Maria said, “but this is getting ridiculous. There are so many things happening in the city right now, and Callium have their dirty fingers all over it. If we could only discover a fraction of it, we could really hurt them. But instead I get two adepts who are more concerned with doing their hair than with obtaining the information we need.”

  “Right,” Jolene said, nodding. “So what are you going to do about it?”

  The question gave Maria pause. What am I going to do about it? When she was nominated, she had felt confident and capable of tackling any obstacle, yet as the days passed she had grown to realize that confidence alone wasn't enough.

  So far she had spent more time dealing with the problems within her own guild than fighting Callium. This situation infuriated Maria no end, and it was the real reason results were lacking so far; there wasn't enough desire within the Daughters of Ashira to fight this vendetta. Or at least, not in the right places.

  “I need this guild's full support,” Maria said finally. “Not just the ones who voted in favour of the vendetta, but from everyone. Nothing held back, because anything less will not be enough.”

  Jolene nodded approvingly. “I guess you know what that means?”

  Maria sighed heavily. “More talking, more convincing.” Starting with that old bat, Tivina Valari.

  “I'm uncertain what was wrong with the adepts I assigned to you,” Tivina said as she poured herself some tea. “They are the most capable in their class; why do you want someone else?”

  Maria smiled politely, grasping the teacup in front of her tightly. “It's not their capability that I question, it's their motivation. They aren't... eager enough.”

  “Eager enough to do what?” Tivina asked. “You don't expect them to do anything dangerous, do you?” She wriggled her nose as if smelling something unpleasant.

  “We are in vendetta,” Maria reminded her, frowning. “Everything we do in this situation is dangerous, so yes I do expect that. These two see it differently, however, and therein lies the problem.”

  Tivina rolled her eyes. “Ah yes, the vendetta. Anything goes as long as it's to serve the vendetta.” She shook her head. “We did not found this guild based on the principle of conflict.”

  Maria hid her annoyance. Magistra Tivina Valari had been very close to Archmagistra Ashira during the Callium Imperatus Schism and she was a typical member of the faithful. Back then she had fiercely supported the creation of a new guild where women who had talent could be free of the patronizing behaviour of men and their petty politics.

  The first of those two obstacles had been overcome; however, the petty politics were still very much in existence.

  Especially in women like her. All righteous morality. No pragmatism.

  “That was nearly forty years ago,” Maria said, trying to change the subject. “Times are different now. You know full well that today's Callium cannot be reasoned with and the Lyceum knows this as well.”

  “Ah yes, the Lyceum. Such a shameful trick you used to convince them, unfitting for any magistra,” Tivina scolded, her voice sharp, as she glanced at Maria's chest.

  You finally heard about that, Maria thought, ignoring the insult. “I convinced them because my arguments were sound. They still are.”

  Tivina let out a mocking laugh. “Sound arguments indeed.”

  “At least my arguments are better than just stating that Ashira wouldn't have wanted it,” Maria bristled. “She can't lead us anymore.”

  The moment those words left her mouth she cut herself off, realizing she had said too much. Tivina needed to be convinced, not antagonized.

  Before she could apologize, however, she noticed that Tivina did not burn with rage. Instead, the old magistra slowly raised the teacup to her mouth where it met with a faint smile.

  A feeling of discomfort crept over Maria. She's not angry? No—she's smiling even?

  Something was wrong here. Tivina would always snap at even the slightest criticism of Ashira, yet now she was sitting there as if Maria had just made a trivial comment about the weather.

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  There was a moment of silence as both women sipped their tea.

  “Well,” Tivina began finally, lowering her cup. “You should review your arguments once more. It was decided that we shall have another vote regarding this vendetta in the light of recent events.”

  So they decided to go ahead with that. This wasn't a surprise to Maria. Ever since Callium was attacked at the White Candle, the looming spectre of another vote had been present. She wasn't too concerned about it, though; if anything it would make her case even stronger. Yet why is she so relaxed about this? She has to know that a new vote will end the same way.

  “Recent events only make the need for this vendetta more obvious,” Maria said. “If there is to be a new vote I'm confident the result will be the same.”

  “I see,” Tivina said, still smiling in a most unpleasant manner. “Did you hear the latest news from the court as well, then?” She didn't wait for Maria to answer. “No, I assume you haven't, being busy with your vendetta and all.”

  Maria's discomfort was rapidly gaining strength now. What in Ashira's name is she talking about?

  “In the light of said recent events,” Tivina continued, “the King has decided that Callium is no longer in charge of breaching the sanctum.”

  Despite expecting something like this, Maria felt the ground being swept away from beneath her feet and she almost lost hold of her teacup.

  “I see you didn't hear,” Tivina said with relish, her smile growing bigger. “Apparently the Royal Guard strongly advised the King to take this course of action after the death of one of their own, and the King will listen to his guard before he listens to us.”

  She held out the teapot. “More tea?”

  Maria barely heard the question as she was lost in frantic thought. If Callium really was no longer allowed to breach the sanctum, then a new vendetta vote would be a guaranteed loss. During the first vote, it had been the immediate threat of Callium gaining access to Candle secrets that had convinced enough magistras to be in favour. That and the fact that the Lyceum would join them in doing so. If that threat was eliminated, then many of the votes would flip back to their old position, both here and in the Lyceum.

  That's why she's giving me that devious smile of hers. She knows all of this.

  “I didn't hear about that,” Maria said eventually, regaining her composure. “When is the vote?”

  “In two days, I believe,” Tivina replied. “A vendetta is an important matter after all, I'm sure you agree, so we shouldn't delay these things.”

  Maria did not respond. Her demeanour said everything Tivina needed to know.

  “Do you still wish to talk about the assigning of other adepts? After all, you may not need them anymore two days from now.”

  By the ?ther, how much I despise her. Her and all those of her conservative ilk. “No,” Maria said, forcing herself to smile, “that won't be necessary.”

  She rose from her chair. “If you'll excuse me, I have some things I still need to take care of in light of this—news.”

  “Certainly,” Tivina said, still wearing that unpleasant thin smile on her wrinkled face. Maria could feel it burning into her back as she left the room.

  “It didn't go well, I see,” Jolene said when Maria entered their study and slammed the door shut behind her. “No new adepts?”

  “No vendetta,” Maria said as she seated herself behind her desk and covered her face with her hands.

  “What? What do you mean?” Jolene asked, puzzled.

  “Callium is no longer granted the right to breach the White Candle sanctum.”

  Jolene's eyes widened as Maria's had before. “What?! I didn't hear anything about that.”

  “Neither did I. Magistra Valari was kind enough to inform me—and how she enjoyed doing so.”

  “That's bad,” Jolene said. “That was a major reason for many to vote in favour of the vendetta.”

  “I know,” Maria said, her voice weary, “and speaking of voting, they also decided to have another one in two days.”

  “Ah,” Jolene said, dumbfounded as the full implications hit her.

  Maria threw her hands in the air in frustration. “That kratty old bat! She and the rest of them. Don't they understand that the threat Callium represents to our guild remains just as real as ever? That they won't get their hands on White Candle secrets makes no difference at all in the end. They're still predators.”

  She slammed her hands on the table, and as her anger dissipated she suddenly wanted to cry. So much time had gone into this, so much effort.

  Without saying a word, Jolene came over from her desk and hugged Maria, who gripped her tightly.

  “It will be fine, Maria. I'm here for you no matter what happens. We'll deal with this just like we dealt with everything else.”

  Maria simply nodded. I still have people who support me, she realized, drawing comfort from the thought.

  After a while, Jolene let her go. “Is there anything you want? Some mint tea?”

  “No, I'm fine,” Maria said meekly. “I just need some time. Do some work to get my mind off things.”

  Later that day, after submitting herself to the mind-numbing boredom of grading adept exams, Maria felt better. Jolene had gone out to 'take care of a few things', as she put it, yet Maria knew she was out to see how much support the vendetta had left.

  When Jolene returned to the study later with a dark expression on her face, Maria knew what the result was.

  “It's not good, I can tell,” Maria said.

  Jolene nodded solemnly. “I'm afraid to say it, but there isn't even a slim chance we will get the votes we need. The incident with the ghast effectively crushed the King's trust in Callium and at least twenty of our voters have taken that as a sign that the threat is gone.”

  Maria sighed. “I should have realized that the immediate threat of Callium's access was the only true pillar that supported this vendetta. Still, I never expected that many to switch.”

  “It's not only that,” Jolene said. “Everyone I spoke to was anxious, some even frightened, by the idea of an unknown group attacking a magic guild like this. Several are worried that we might become a target as well.”

  It's just like Tayla said. We might be next. “What's the current consensus on who did it?” Maria asked.

  “Still Hyna,” Jolene answered. “Either them or one of the syndicates.”

  “So that hasn't changed,” Maria said after giving it some thought. “And we know it wasn't us or the Lyceum.”

  “I heard rumours that a guild from Galond was behind it. Supposedly White Candle wronged them somehow, and they came here to get what they were owed.”

  Maria shrugged. “I know there are a lot of strange stories going around about magistrae from Galond. But it wouldn't surprise me if most of those were exaggerated.”

  “I heard something else as well,” Jolene said. “Apparently the Royal Guard had captured one of the attackers and locked her up in the Stockade.”

  “They actually captured someone?” Maria asked. “Why didn't we hear about this earlier?” she added before raising her hand. “No wait, I know. Because they thought we sent her.”

  “That would be my guess,” Jolene said. “Anyway, she escaped from the Stockade.”

  “She escaped from the Stockade?!” Maria exclaimed, jerking upright with disbelief. “How?”

  “Apparently someone helped her, a traitor from within the Whisper itself.”

  Maria tilted her head and thought about that for a moment. “That is a rather scary thought. How far does the influence of this attacking group stretch?”

  “No idea, but it explains why many of the magistras are worried.”

  “I can see that,” Maria said before waving her hand, “but let's talk about this some other time. We need to deal with our own problems first. What is the Lyceum going to do now that this has happened?”

  “As I heard it, they will withdraw from the vendetta, as per our joint agreement.”

  “I figured that much,” Maria said with another sigh. It had taken her a lot of effort to bring in the Lyceum on their side, but she had understood from the beginning that the Lyceum would only follow the Daughters' lead in this matter. They would not challenge Callium by themselves.

  Maria grimaced. “Any more bad news? Because if you have some, tell me now as I doubt it can be much worse than what I've heard so far.”

  “Alright,” Jolene said, taking up the challenge. “Magistra Valari was telling everyone about her conversation with you. She seemed very pleased with herself.”

  “I'm certain she is.”

  “She also mentioned your 'unseemly behaviour' several times with regards to you convincing the Lyceum. There was much approval from her fellow bats.”

  “Again?” Maria rolled her eyes. “She mentioned it to me during our conversation as well. She just can't let that go.” She looked down upon her day robe, which fitted tightly around her neck. “I'm still wondering how they found out to begin with.”

  “Well,” Jolene said with a smile, “it was pretty unseemly.”

  “What?!” Maria replied, pseudo-upset. “It was your idea to do that in the first place.”

  “And it worked, didn't it? Show a bit of cleavage and curves to a bunch of book-wise men, and you're suddenly a whole lot more convincing.”

  “I should have never allowed you to talk me into it.”

  “Since when do you mind being ogled?”

  “I don't,” Maria replied. “I just don't like that I felt we needed to do it. The arguments we had alone would have been enough to convince the Lyceum. Those men are supposed to be the pinnacle of knowledge and rationality.” She paused briefly, recalling the particulars of that meeting. “But I suppose I'm a pragmatist in the end.” Jolene shrugged. “Those men spend most of their time inside their studies, never going outside. The only women they see are their fellow guild members, and from what I saw they don't do much to make themselves look pretty.”

  “You mean like you look right now?” Maria said mockingly.

  Jolene looked down at the shapeless robe she was wearing. Her long auburn hair was tied up in a simple topknot, held in place by two large pens, and it was obvious she had forgone spending time in front of a mirror.

  “Yes, like this,” Jolene said. They both laughed.

  Jolene sat down behind her desk. “Do you feel better now?”

  “I do, thank you,” Maria said.

  “What are we going to do now then?”

  “Nothing,” Maria replied, her smile disappearing.

  Jolene raised her eyebrows. “Nothing?”

  “I'm just going to let it go. The vendetta is done.”

  “Just like that?” Jolene said, clearly confused. “I'm sorry, but I don't understand. You poured so much time into this. You can't fool me into believing that you can just let it go now.”

  “It's not like that. What I mean is that I've been focusing too much on the vendetta itself. The goal I have is not to have a vendetta. It's to make sure this guild is the greatest guild in the city for generations to come.”

  Maria leaned back into her chair and stared out of the room's single window into the night. “I believed that declaring vendetta against Callium would be the best course of action as it would unify the guild and aim it against our greatest threat. But at some point the vendetta stopped being a means to an end and became an end in itself, causing me to lose sight of what I really want.”

  Jolene nodded in agreement. “I see what you mean.”

  Maria continued, becoming more impassioned. “I thought that the vendetta would give me the support I needed, but I understand now that was just wishful thinking. We've been in vendetta for ten days now, and what did it accomplish? Almost nothing.”

  “Circumstances could have been better,” said Jolene.

  Maria made a dismissive gesture. “The circumstances don't matter. If the vendetta had been going as I pictured it, those would have been opportunities instead. That ghast appearing when Callium is busy doing something at the White Candle? That's not a coincidence, yet thanks to two certain adepts we remain in the dark.”

  She crossed her arms and shook her head. “No, the vendetta is done.”

  Jolene frowned. “Does this mean you aren't going to vote in favour of the vendetta? Because if you don't, a lot of people will be disappointed.”

  “Don't worry,” Maria said. “I won't do that because I still have need of their support.” She smiled. “I put so much effort into starting this vendetta because I believed it would rally everyone to the same cause. But perhaps I should have known it was going to end up like this the moment Tayla said she wasn't going to lead it. She's the one who represents harmony and cooperation, not I.”

  “So what comes now?”

  Maria did not respond, merely broadened her smile.

  “You've got that twinkle in your eye,” Jolene said, looking at Maria with suspicion. “Are you planning something else?”

  “Indeed I am,” Maria said, her smile becoming devious. “I'm going to let go of the vendetta of the Daughters of Ashira against Callium,” she said, pausing for dramatic effect, “and replace it with the vendetta of Magistra Maria Seleny against the world.”