Page 420 of Of Empires and Dust

Just as Ruon had said it would, the moving of bodies and the clash of steel settled Kallinvar’s mind, focused him. The world around him grew quiet, the vibrations jarring his arms as he and Ruon whirled about one another.

Sweat slicked Kallinvar’s entire body, his shirt clinging to his chest and arms, his hair tacked to his forehead. He blocked low as Ruon moved in, then brought his blade around to strike at her left shoulder.

Ruon turned the blow away and swept Kallinvar’s blade down. And at that moment, Kallinvar finally understood. Hours upon hours of pouring over Gildrick’s books and beating his head against the table and all he had found was a headache. But with his mind clear, he understood.

That brief moment of elation was cut short when Ruon’s blunted blade smashed him in the stomach. The blow knocked the wind from his lungs, and he fell backwards into the sand, coughing and gasping for air.

As Ruon stood over him, the coughing turned to laughter.

“I didn’t hit your head, did I?” Ruon asked as she offered her hand.

Kallinvar took her hand and hauled himself to his feet with Ruon’s help. He shook his head. “A History of the People of Ardholm,” he said, shaking his head.

“Are you sure she didn’t hit your head?” Ildris asked.

“No…”

“No?”

“Yes, I’m sure. No, she didn’t hit my head. The night Gildrick was killed?—”

“Killed?” Ruon searched Kallinvar’s eyes. “Go on.”

“He had a number of books open in his study.A History of the People of Ardholmand a list of all people inducted into the Watchers.”

Ruon gestured for Kallinvar to continue.

“If there is a traitor, one who…” He hesitated, not wishing to say the next words out loud but knowing they were true at the same time. “One who is tied to Efialtír, perhaps Gildrick believed they go back as far as the rebellion in five-twenty-one After Doom. Perhaps even that their ancestors were brought in after Grandmaster Invictus’s decision to admit the refugees from Lurïnel.” As Kallinvar spoke, he connected more threads in his mind. “Gildrick was trying to establish a connection, trying to make sense of it all.” A heavy weight formed in his stomach. “Gildrick believed there was a traitor within the Watchers…”

“That cannot be…” Ruon stared back at him in disbelief. “Then what of the other book, the one that has gone missing, the one Poldor spoke of? And Gildrick’s mention of a dead god?”

Kallinvar’s heart sank. “I don’t know.”

Urgent footsteps slapped against the stone stairs that led down to the sparring chamber, and Watcher Poldor appeared at the entrance. “Grandmaster!”

“What is it, Poldor? What’s wrong?”

“You need to see this now. You were right. It’s Watcher Tallia,” Poldor explained as he led Ruon, Kallinvar, and Ildrisback through the temple to the Watcher’s chambers. “I couldn’t get it out of my head – Gildrick’s death… the missing book… Tallia… everything.”

“But you’re the one who told me she hadn’t been in the Watcher’s chambers that day, Poldor. You defended her.”

“I know, but I was always taught never to leave a question unasked. The pages were ripped from those books, Kallinvar, and I’ve searched everywhere for the book Gildrick had been reading. It’s gone.” Poldor turned left through a long corridor, then right through the next, the door to the Watcher’s chambers up ahead. “I held the vigil tonight in Ardholm and told all the Watchers and all the temple hands that you had demanded they all attend. A vigil in remembrance of the lost knights, the brave souls who have given everything to preserve our world.”

“And why are you not there?”

“Watcher Hatia leads it.” Poldor stepped through the door into the Watcher’s chambers. “I slipped out near the beginning.” He stopped in the antechamber. “The books Gildrick was reading in his study, I believe?—”

“That he thought the traitor was a Watcher.”

Poldor smiled. “Precisely. Though I’m not sure he wascertainthere was a traitor, but he suspected one. Ever since he realised quite how many pages had been torn from certain books, knowledge obscured… There were threads.”

“Why did he never come to me about this?”

“I’m afraid that was perhaps my doing, Grandmaster.”

“Yours?”

“I convinced Gildrick that there was not enough evidence. That suggestions of a traitor inside the temple – of all places – were a thing to be handled with extreme care. That we shouldn’t go to you until we had more.”

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