Page 137 of A Tower of Half-Truths
There is great potential within you…
A wizard of your fortitude ought to be capable of more…
Do not make me regret this decision.
Mavery’s idea would be fine if Alain could get away with the bare minimum. But this afternoon’s events proved that he needed to do more than that.
He needed to do somethingextraordinary.
Forty
The moment they returned home, Alain made a direct path for the storage room. He opened crates and rummaged through their contents, muttering to himself while Mavery watched on from the doorway. Though Alain had managed to speak to her on the trip home, he’d quickly returned to his thoughts. Whatever plan he’d hatched in silence, he was now putting it into motion.
Not only had the High Council’s verdict derailed his plan to resign from the University, theirotherplans for the evening now seemed postponed indefinitely. Having her work scholastically shat upon certainly hadn’t left Mavery in a celebratory mood. A long, hard nap was the only bedroom activity that interested her at this particular moment.
“No, not here,” Alain grumbled. “Wherearethose blasted things?”
“What are you looking for?”
“My old journals. I moved them here ages ago, but I forgot exactly where I—aha! Here they are!”
He brought a stack of journals into the main room, dumped them on his desk, and lowered himself into his chair. Without another word, he began to read.
Mavery took one of the journals—the same onehe’d shown her during the first week of her assistantship. When Alain didn’t protest, she turned to the final entry, and her blood chilled upon seeing a name that had become hauntingly familiar. She now understood why Alain had prevented her from reading this before.
Siddisday, 20 Pluviose, 1040
At long last, Conor discovered the breakthrough we needed! He came across a letter written by Aganast, acting as the head of the Order of Asphodel. Beneath his signature was an odd symbol that matches the one depicted on the Innominate Temple’s pediment. I will reproduce it here. This could be proof that the temple is connected to Aganast, the Order, or both.
I’m already fast at work planning a research trip for this summer. Before we conduct an on-site investigation, we should start with interviews across Dyerland Province. Local villagers may have information that cannot be found in the University’s library. I plan to meet with Kazamin on Onisday to discuss fund
I must cut this entry short, for Conor is insisting we go out for a pint. And now he is standing over my shoulder while I write, as he so often enjoys doing. Yes, my darling, I agree that a discovery like this is cause for celebrations!
She tried to avoid thinking of how their “celebrations” had ended, and instead focused on the symbol Alain had sketched in the margin. From a distance, it appeared to be a six-pointed star. She looked closer and noticed how those points were thin and slightly rounded—an asphodel flower.
She closed the notebook and returned it to the stack. Alain was still absorbed in his reading. She glanced over his shoulder, and the word “temple” stuck out to her like a beacon.
“Alain, what are you planning?” she asked cautiously.
“With a single field experiment, I can kill two birds with one stone: prove to the High Council that I’m still capable of more than ‘parlor tricks,’ and prove that our spell is viable. So viable, in fact, it can help with something no scholar has ever accomplished.”
“I take it you’re not planning to pop over to the courthouse.”
He shook his head. “Were these normal circumstances, I would see no problem with that plan. But I need to give the High Council something far more impressive. I need to—”
“Crack the Innominate Temple.”
He closed his notebook and turned to her. “Yes.”
“But they’ve only given you a week for this field experiment.”
“Which is all the more reason why I need to act quickly.”
“Alain—”
“The fact of the matter is, it’s too late for me to begin a new project from scratch, so I’ve no choice but to pick up an old one, and I’ve made more headway on the temple than anything else.”
“But why go to these lengths to prove yourself to the High Council?”
