Page 145 of The Iron Flower

MAGE COUNCIL

RULING

#336

All Selkies coming to shore in the Western Realm are to be immediately executed.

Aiding or abetting Selkies will be grounds for imprisonment.

CHAPTER ONE

IRON

Three days pass, and amazingly, the world remains at wary peace. We’re all braced for the Gardnerian military to retaliate in some way for the Selkie raid.

So, we wait for it. And wait. And wait.

But...nothing.

And then the Mage Council holds an emergency meeting.

The next day, Tierney and I watch as a Verpacian soldier nails a wanted posting to a lamppost, the edges of the parchment flapping as they’re buffeted by the strong wind. Thunder rumbles in the distance, and I glance up at the churning clouds—a dark herald of the stormy weather we’ll all need to get through before we have any chance of stepping into true spring.

When the soldier walks off to hang another across the street, Tierney and I tentatively approach the lamppost. My heart thuds against my chest as we read the stark warning that Selkies are running loose in the Western Realm, the vicious seal-creatures lying in wait to kill Gardnerians and Verpacians.

Tierney pales as she scans the parchment. “The Selkies are all safe,” I remind her under my breath. “This doesn’t matter.”

She turns to me, her expression stark. “It matters,” she insists in a jagged whisper. “It gives the Gardnerian and Verpacian councils yet one more justification to double down and go after anyone they want to target.”

More insistent thunder cracks overhead. Out of the corner of my eye, I watch as the young Verpacian soldier nails one posting after another all the way down the street, most pedestrians having ducked into stores or restaurants to try and wait out the impending storm.

* * *

Rafe and Trystan are rattled by the Gardnerian military’s mild response to the Selkie raid.

“Vogel has to know that the Amaz were involved,” Rafe plainly states that night as I lean against his desk. My brothers are sitting on their beds, jumbles of books and classwork scattered around them as rain sheets against the windows and forks of lightning flash outside.

“How could he know?” I ask, dubious.

“Well, for one thing,” Trystan says, “the Amaz likely used runic explosives to obliterate the taverns. That’s what Valasca was planning. And that leaves a rather unique radius of destruction.”

“And the Amaz probably erased their tracks to and from the taverns, to avoid being followed,” Rafe adds. “Selkies wouldn’t have access to Amaz track-warding runes if they escaped on their own. So, the Gardnerians must know that rune-sorcery was used.”

“And the whole thing was too coordinated.” Trystan throws Rafe a poignant look. “Too military efficient.”

“Which means,” Rafe continues, an ominous edge creeping into his tone, “there might be another reason Vogel’s not threatening the Amaz.”

We’re all quiet for a long moment, the silence blaring.

“What reason?” I ask nervously.

Rafe’s dark look is unwavering. “Maybe Vogel is conserving his power for something else.”

* * *

Disquieted by my brothers’ sense of amorphous foreboding, I throw myself into the busy routine of my life. Everyone else is just as preoccupied, the past few weeks having put us all much further behind in our studies. Anxious that the Mage and Verpacian councils are covertly investigating the Selkie raid, we’re all careful to stay within the boundaries of what’s expected, to blend in and go unnoticed.

Now that spring has arrived, Gareth leaves with the other maritime apprentices for the Valgard docks, and I miss his comforting presence, as well as Marina’s.

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