Page 15 of Rules of Stone
I rub my face. “In other words, you are a walking reference text of events so long past that no one else gives a damn about them anymore?” I wince. “My apologies. I could have worded that better.”
Gavriel adjusts his glasses. “Yes. And… yes.” He motions to a thick volume resting on the edge of his desk, and I oblige the silent request, bringing the book over to him. “The twist to your humor being that my guild’s work has proven correct—as evidenced by my having anticipated your coming. And yes, I will explain that in a moment as well.”
He flips through the book, his attention on the pages. “Have you heard the legend about fae coming through from the other lands to take a worthy warrior and grant him eternal life?”
“I have. Zake, the lord I used to be indentured to, told it often—mostly because he believed himself to be the chosen one. The man was so stars bent on it that he built a whole estate at Mystwood’s edge, waiting for immortality to summon him.” I wrap my arms around myself, the memories pricking like tiny needles. “The irony was that fae warriorsdidshow up at Zake’s estate, except for a different reason.”
“The Sentinel’s Guild would take issue with your word choice, Leralynn,” Gavriel says.
“Which word?”
“Irony.” He turns the book he’s holding around, the pictures showing a human turning fae in stages, ears rising, body and hair lengthening, a sword held high in her hands. The next image over shows the same grand hero protecting a village from shadowed hordes. “We prefer prophecy.”
I stare at Gavriel, waiting for the laugh, but the man is serious. “You think that I—” I shake my head. “The fae didn’t summon me to Lunos to gift me with immortal life, Gavriel. That was more an accidental by-product of my death.”
“And yet here you are.” The man opens his hands, his brown eyes round with excitement. “Born in the mortal world, summoned to Lunos, returning as an immortal warrior yourself—right when and where beasts of wrongness and corruption have begun raising their heads.” Gavriel closes the book. “That is why I took the position at Great Falls, if you were wondering. After hearing of fae taking a mortal near Mystwood, I sought out reports of unusual incidents—which Great Falls has seen a bit of in the past months. My prediction was that you’d return as an immortal warrior right in the center of the fray. I was not wrong. A battle is coming, and you are here to defend our kind, Leralynn. With me here to guide you through it, the best I am able.”
I’m speechless for a moment, unsure whether to laugh hysterically or scream. “Bloody stars, Gavriel. You are as insane as Zake.” My headache creeps back even without the amulet, and I squeeze my temples to avoid shaking him. “Listen to me. I’m not a lone hero returned to battle beasts untold. I’m here as part of a five-warrior quint ordered to find and seal a crack in the wards protecting the mortal realm from magic.”
For the first time since walking into the library, I see Gavriel’s scholarly face rippling with confusion. “Five-warrior quint? No. No, that can’t be right.” He huffs. “That wasn’t in the prophecy. These texts have been studied and deciphered by the kingdom’s greatest minds. The Protector comes alone.”
“Then we both agree I’m not the Protector you are waiting for.” I force my voice under control and lean toward him with the most polite demeanor I can manage. “But if you could see your way to using all those centuries of knowledge to help me find a way out of the mess I’m actually in, I’d be most obliged. Yesterday, River, Coal, Shade, Tye, and I were approaching the Academy when I heard a static-like noise. I took off my amulet to investigate, but my horse tripped over what seemed to be an old rune-covered tablet. There was a flash, and I was unconscious for some time. When I finally made my way to the Academy, I discovered that the males now actually believe the veil amulet’s legends. I need to get their memories back. Can you help?”
Gavriel stares at me, his mouth working without sound.
I wait, holding his gaze and my breath.
After a few heartbeats, the man shakes himself and pulls a sheet of handwritten notes from inside his breast pocket. “There have been reports of wild animal assaults from some of Great Falls’s farms, but what I’ve been able to glean suggests beasts from another realm,” Gavriel says as if I’d not spoken at all. “Skysis—”
“Sclices.”
“Ah, sclices. I will make the correction. I believe sclices to be the culprits and have outlined the details here. This should be our first line of attack.” He slides the sheet over to me and takes off his glasses, polishing them intently on his wool robe. “Since the prophecy mentions nothing of companions, there is no cause to focus there.”
“Wait, what?” I blink. Rub my eyes. Blink again. “Gavriel… I little care what the prophecy says. I care about reversing what happened to my quint so we can continue with our veryrealand veryurgentmission.” A mission, I realize, which my males remember no more than they recall the veil amulets or sclices or anything else they’ve encountered over centuries in Lunos. “Do you…do you understand what I’m trying to say at all?”
His jaw tightens. “If your companions were important, the prophecy would have mentioned them. And given the rather prominent Academy personnel you are naming, it is entirely possible that their role in this affair is to be played out from their current personas. We need to focus on protecting the mortal realm. Nothing else.”
“I don’t think there is awe,then.” Rising to my feet, I clip the veil amulet back onto my neck and start for the door.
“There is something else you should know,” Gavriel calls after me. “Your old master has been stirring up fuss about fae, accusing the immortals of everything from replacing healthy babes with ill ones to killing livestock, and worse. It’s taken hold—hate, I fear, is rather easy to spread.”
“I grew up next to Mystwood,” I say without turning. “Tales of murderous fae are nothing new to me.”
“No.” Gavriel’s voice sharpens. “I speak not of legends and children’s tales of far-off beasts. Zake and his inquisitors are arresting people on charges of being fae blood carriers and sympathizers. By the time they are done questioning or cleansing or whatever name they give torture nowadays, there is usually little left but a confession. And execution.”
I shake my head. “There are no fae in the mortal lands, bar the five of us. And we came just a day ago.”
“I’m certain the families of five hundred of Zake’s victims will be pleased to hear that,” says Gavriel.
“Why are you telling me this?” I ask, ice gripping my chest as tightly as I grip the doorknob.
“So you know what is likely to happen if you yank off your amulet in front of the Academy’s deputy headmaster, as I believe you might consider doing. Either that, or accuse River, Coal, Shade, Tye, or anyone else of fae craft.”
13
Lera
Irush out of the library into the long, torch-lit hallway so quickly that I crash into Tye for the second time that day. The male’s pine-and-citrus scent alerts me to his identity a moment before his firm, warm hands steady my elbows. I resist the urge to press into his hard chest, though every instinct in my body tells me I belong there.
