Page 117 of Forged in Flame and Shadow

“They sent us a message yesterday using our aesteri network. They entertained a cleric who’d recently come from Bastion.”

I frown, murmuring to Tira on my right. “Where’s Bastion?”

“No idea,” she whispers back.

Alastor, who’s next to Leon, overhears and answers in a murmur.

“It’s further west. It’s the training school for the Temple’s acolytes.”

I blink at him in surprise. He really has been learning a lot from all this time he’s spent hovering over Harman.

“While this cleric claims not to know what Caledon was looking for in the royal territories, he did know what sparked this search.” Harman raps his fist on the table triumphantly. “It’s a codex.The Codex of Atolus, to be exact.”

“Atolus the seer?” one of the rebels asks.

“Yes, which means the codex is full of?—”

“Prophecies.” I finish his sentence without thinking, then realize I’ve drawn attention to myself. I try not to blush as I explain. “I’ve read about Atolus. He was a scholar and a respected star reader as well. His predictions were reported to be quite accurate, but I thought all his texts were lost a thousand years ago.”

“Well, Caledon found them,” Harman says. “And according to this cleric, one of the prophecies has sent him on a country-widesearch. Whatever he’s looking for now must be worth killing the king and queen for.”

“It must be a source of power,” Esther says. “That’s all that greedy skunk wants.”

I’m inclined to agree. After all, he outlawed all solari just so he could get his hands on our magic.

“And this codex is in Bastion?” guesses one of the rebels, a man in his fifties with a scar through his eyebrow.

“Yes, for safekeeping. Caledon hasn’t given up on the codex revealing more valuable secrets for him to decipher.”

“So what are you proposing?” I ask, though I think I can guess.

“If we can get our hands on that codex, we’ll know what he found,” Harman says, driving his finger into the table for emphasis. “So we’ll just have to break into Bastion and steal it.”

The rebels take a moment to settle after this announcement. Deedus is the first to speak.

“Didn’t we learn our lesson after that warehouse about breaking into Temple strongholds, rather than just torching the places?” His expression is dark, overshadowed, I guess, by the memory of that night. I can hardly blame him. I only saw the aftermath, and the vivid images are still with me.

“Burning down Bastion won’t help us much if we want to read this book,” the man with the eyebrow scar replies.

“The place will be a viper’s nest,” another rebel protests.

“Baby vipers,” Harman says, raising an eyebrow. “The Bastion is full of acolytes—children and youths who’ve yet to graduate to cleric roles. They won’t be fully trained, and the Temple doesn’traise the cleavers there. They have a separate school closer to Kestis.”

“With careful planning, we could be in and out of there without even needing to draw a weapon,” Esther says, looking around for support. The others either meet her stern gaze with nods of approval or look away, unable to stand against it.

“This is the best piece of intelligence we’ve had on Caledon in a while,” Harman says. “But we can’t afford to sit on it for long. If we wait, we run the risk of the Temple changing its mind and burying the codex in some far-off place where we’ll never find it or destroying it altogether. If we want to seize this chance, we have to act fast.”

“Let’s vote on it,” Esther says. The rebels in favor of Harman’s suggestion immediately lift their hands. Esther looks to us expectantly.

“You want us to vote too?” I ask.

“Well yes, seeing as I assume you’ll be coming with us,” Harman says. “Anyone who’ll be putting their lives on the line with this decision gets a vote. That goes for our Filusian brothers and sisters too.”

I feel a ripple of reaction in the fae on either side of me. They didn’t expect to be included like this.

“As leader, Harman’s vote automatically counts for one-third of the votes cast,” Esther explains. “But if there’s high opposition, he can be overruled.”

I raise my hand in favor of the plan, and so does Tira. I see Damia and Eryx do too, as well as Stratton. However, Hyllus, Phaia, and Leon keep their hands lowered. I stare into Leon’sface, looking for some hint as to his thoughts. Is this because he still doesn’t trust Harman? Or does he think this whole mission is a mistake? But the shutters are down on his gray eyes, and he’s too closed off for me to read.

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