Page 135 of The Black Witch

Professor Kristian leans forward. “Styvius Gardner was born a half-breed into Keltic society, one of the despised Kelt-Dryad Mages.”

I blanch. Professor Kristian could be imprisoned if he uttered such outrageous blasphemy in Gardneria. “It’s dangerous to talk like that,” I warn him sharply.

He smiles, his eyes steely. “Perhaps, then, it’s good that my door isshut.”

I stare back at him, amazed by his boldness.

“Shall we continue?”

I swallow and nod.

“The Dryad Fae had been killed off long ago, but Dryad blood lived on in the Mage line, giving the Mages their characteristic black hair, and shimmering skin. And branch magic lived on as well, although at a very weak level—only intricately laminated wooden wands could bring forth a fraction of the same magic Dryads could access through simple branches.

“Styvius Gardner was a different sort of Mage, however. His magic wasn’t weak. From early on, it was apparent that the magic in his veins was much stronger than any Mage who had ever been born. He could summon fire with a ferocity never before seen and create tornadoes out of small breezes.”

I settle back in my chair. This is not new to me. This I’ve heard.

“When Styvius was only eight years old,” Professor Kristian goes on, “he came upon a Kelt overseer viciously beating his Mage mother.”

“I know,” I tell him flatly.

Professor Kristian nods. “Horrified at the sight of his bloodied mother, Styvius killed the overseer, setting him ablaze with wand magic. The Kelts responded by sending out soldiers to kill young Styvius. They murdered his beloved mother as she needlessly tried to shield the boy. The Kelts planned on killing every Mage in the village to teach them a lesson in obedience.

“But Styvius stopped them. Driven mad by the death of his mother, he killed every soldier in sight.”

This I also know. The priests speak of it in church. I know the story of how Styvius took his vengeance on the Evil Kelts, slaying his mother’s cruel tormentors.

“Then he set out and killed every Kelt in his village and all the surrounding villages,” Professor Kristian continues.

This part catches me off guard. “Wait. What?”

Professor Kristian nods gravely. “Everyone.Men. Women. Children. And then he slaughtered everyone in the village next to that one. And the next. And the next.” Professor Kristian pauses, his expression darkening. “He quickly developed a predilection for torture.”

I tense my face at him in disbelief. “What? No. That can’t be right...” My voice trails off as I try to make sense of what he’s saying.

“The Kelts repeatedly tried to kill Styvius,” Professor Kristian goes on, “but he was invincible, able to summon shields to protect himself and throw huge balls of fire. Eventually, the Kelts fled from northern Keltania, sending the beleaguered Mages to settle there in an effort to placate the child. The Mages, of course, loved Styvius. He liberated them, gave them a homeland and exacted vengeance on their Keltic tormentors.Thatwas the beginning of Gardneria.”

I sit there, dumbfounded. It’s bizarre to hear this familiar story told so starkly, stripped of its religious underpinnings. And in my people’s story, they were pure-blooded Mages created by the Ancient One from the seeds of the sacred Ironflowers and gathered up as His First Children.

“When he reached adulthood,” Professor Kristian continues, “Styvius became a religious zealot. He took the Kelts’Book of the Ancientsand decided that the Mages weren’t Kelt-Dryad half-breeds after all, but the First Children talked about inThe Book, the rightful owners of Erthia. The Mages, beaten down and abused for generations, were eager to hear this new take on the old religion. Styvius began to claim that he was the Ancient One’s prophet, and that the Ancient One was speaking directly to him. He wrote a new last chapter toThe Bookand called it ‘The Blessed Mages.’ Then he renamed his people ‘Gardnerian Mages,’ declared northern Keltania to be ‘The Republic of Gardneria’ and installed himself as High Mage.”

I’m inwardly drawing away from him, my people’s cherished history being roughly stabbed at and picked apart by his words.

“So, you don’t believe Styvius was actually a prophet?” I inquire, acutely aware of how blasphemous the question is.

Professor Kristian doesn’t blink. “I think he was a madman.”

I sit there, struggling to make sense of it all.

“Styvius set out to populate the entirety of Erthia with nothing but Mages,” Professor Kristian continues. “He set down in ‘The Blessed Mages’ the commandment that Gardnerian Mage women are to wandfast to Gardnerian men at an early age to keep their magic affinity lines pure and their Mage blood untainted. Styvius himself created the highly protected spells that are still used for the Gardnerian sacrament of wandfasting. Women who broke their wandfasting commitment with non-Gardnerians were to be struck down as brutally as possible, along with their non-Gardnerian lovers. The men’s families were also killed, as a lesson to all. A Banishment ceremony was required to exorcise the Evil of the woman from her family.”

“My neighbor, Sage Gaffney, was Banished,” I tell him, inwardly cringing at the thought.

“And how did you feel about that?” he asks.

I remember Sage’s bloodied hands, her terrified appearance and Shane’s stories of how her fastmate had beaten her.

“I’m very troubled by it,” I reply.

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