Page 110 of Somewhere down the Ley Line
Kaeloth stood slumped, looking pale and wretched.
Felix took a deep breath and reminded himself there was a good reason he was doing this. Isolde was confident she had stripped the mage of his magic, but Felix wasn’t about to take any chances and had insisted on talking to Kaeloth alone. It had taken some convincing, but she relented in the end.
“Right,” Felix said, leaning back against the door and crossing his arms, “this is how this is going to go. Isolde has decided to let you live; don’t bloody ask me why. Had it been up to me…”
The mage did not react.
“In exchange for your life,” Felix continued, “you will tell us everything you know about the leytouched, about the Nexus, the Arcaenum. Everything.”
Kaeloth lifted his head, eyes sunken and rimmed with shadows. “In exchange for my life?” he murmured. “My life is gone. You took everything –shetook everything from me.” He raised a trembling hand and stared at it as though he couldn’t remember what it was for. “Magic was my soul. There’s nothing left of me. Death would be preferable.”
“You planned to chain her, drain her, let her rot for decades,” Felix said, emotionless. “What did you expect? Sympathy?”
“I don’t want sympathy,” Kaeloth snapped. His voice cracked, then dropped to a whisper. “I want nothing.”
“Good,” Felix said. “I do, though. I want you to tell me about the Arcaenum.”
Kaeloth was silent for a long while. Finally, he let out a deep sigh. “Why not. It is nothing to me now,” he said. “The Arcaenum isn’t just a force. Itismagic. The source of all of it. A god, if you will. Or a divine force at least.”
He paused, as if waiting to be interrupted, studying Felix’s face for a reaction. When it didn’t come, he continued. “When the world was young, there was an order here, of leytouched. Arcane Vessels, they called themselves.” He scoffed. “Vanity they could afford, because they were the only people able to wield magic. But as more magic infused the earth, mages were born. The leytouched did not accept this. They considered themselveschosen.”He scowled. “They drained themagic from us, from mages, whenever they could, taking their lives as they did. Innocents, children.”
Felix rolled his eyes. “You expect me to believe that?”
Kaeloth shrugged. “Believe what you like, sellsword. I care not.” He sat down heavily. “Mages multiplied, while leytouched didn’t. It seems the Arcaenum only sees fit tochoosea finite number of them at any time. Mages fought back. Eventually, their numbers proved stronger. But they did not foresee that the elimination of leytouched would cause the Arcaenum to become unstable and erratic. So they devised a way to contain it, by binding the leytouched to it.”
“And sacrificing them in the process,” Felix said, remembering the memories they had seen in the Nexus, the desperate last stand, the disturbing ritual.
“A handful of lives in exchange for hundreds, if not thousands,” Kaeloth replied dismissively. “For a world where magic can be practised safely. Sacrifice of a few for the good of many. This is the very essence of existence.”
“I take it all this is not common knowledge even within the mage circles,” Felix said, changing the subject. “Just a select few, the Archmage included?”
The mage barked a bitter laugh. “That fossil? No. He would rather stick his head in the sand, or hide behind one of his many mistresses’ skirts, than face the truth. But other than that, yes. Most mages remain ignorant of their own history. They are not willing to openly accept what is necessary to maintain stability.”
“Thought so. What about Arcane Wardens?” Felix asked, trying to make the question seem like an afterthought.
Kaeloth tilted his head at him, his mouth twitching with contempt. “Ah, yes. She would be so arrogant, to look at the stars and put the pieces together. It must be curious,” he said slowly, “to be so oblivious to what you have become. Chosen, indeed.”
Felix kept his stance carefully casual, not wanting the mage to see the discomfort that crept up on him. Stars? He’d ask her later. Out of habit, he reached for his dagger, just for something to do with his hands. But of course, it wasn’t there. He hoped the mage didn’t notice. “Is that a roundabout way of saying you don’t know anything?”
“Don’t insult me, hireling,” Kaeloth said, scowling. “I may have lost my magic…” He trailed off again, an agonized look on his face. Felix waited. Finally, the mage looked up. “There have been no Arcane Wardens for centuries. The most commonly accepted theory is that they were a… counterpart, of sorts, to the leytouched. Immune to all magic, able to ground them when needed. Bonded to them, sometimes as friends but usually as lovers.” He grinned wolfishly. “Her wealthy, influential father will be delighted, no doubt, that his only daughter has… bonded in this way. With someone likeyou.”
Felix clenched his jaw. “Yes, while he would have been simply thrilled at seeing her magically leashed to a rock for the rest of her life, I’m sure. Is that all?”
“Hardly,” Kaeloth scoffed, “but debating the more complex, layered intricacies of history is wasted on someone with limited understanding of the world, such as yourself.”
Felix smiled. “You’re probably right,” he said, then turned to the door.
***
They burned Luella’s remains at dusk.
Leif and Garren found a quiet courtyard with a lone tree growing in the centre, the pavement cracked by its roots. When a mountain eagle landed on the topmost branches and tilted its head at them, they all agreed this was the place.
They’d wrapped her in a shroud, and Leif collected enough firewood for a pyre somewhere. Felix and Garren built it, working together silently. Mia and Isolde stood off to the side, hand in hand. Leif held an unusually subdued Biscuit. His gaze kept jumping from the eagle to the shrouded body, as if he was waiting for some sign.
It was only the five of them. Hawes and his mercenaries had their own rites for the handful of people they had lost, and neither group had been keen on making it a shared experience. Just the five of them suited Felix fine.
Garren said a quiet prayer to the Reaper. All of them were grieving Luella’s death, but Garren was devastated. Felix guessed it was because he hadn’t beenthere when it happened. Perhaps Garren thought he could have prevented it, could have saved her.
