Page 163 of A Tower of Half-Truths
“No,you’rethe brilliant one,” she said. Despite her apparent unease, she smiled back. “You were right: the Innominate Temple isn’t a temple.”
He nodded. “It’s a wizard’s tower.”
Fifty
The spiral stairs led to a tiny room that appeared to be a dead end. But then Mavery Sensed a swarm of buzzing red auras: another fabrication spell. This one came from a pressure plate embedded in the stone wall. She pushed it, and the wall swung open into a large chamber. With the flick of his wrist, Alain sent his orb of light ahead of them.
The chamber was sparsely furnished with a four-poster bed, a trunk at the foot of it, a wardrobe, and a single chair. If this was a wizard’s tower, this had to be the wizard’s living quarters, though it was evident no one had actuallylivedhere in a very long time. The air was stagnant, and everything was blanketed in dust. Though the furniture remained standing, the linens upon the bed and tapestries upon the walls were so threadbare, they looked as though a gentle breeze would be enough to disintegrate them. The floor-to-ceiling windows had become so caked in dirt from remaining belowground, no natural light shone through. At the far end of the chamber was a door that glowed with blue and silver auras.
But there were no personal effects, nothing to identify the tower’s previous owner. The wooden trunk seemed the most promising place to find answers. Alain tried to lift the lid, only to discover that it was secured with a padlock bearing a green patina.
“Can one of you scrounge up your lockpicking tools?” he asked.
“No need,” Neldren said.
He shouldered past Alain and brandished his pistol. Alain flinched, but instead of firing a shot, Neldren struck the butt against the padlock. The clang of metal on metal made Mavery’s ears ring. After the second strike, the lock snapped in half and clattered to the floor. Neldren holstered his pistol with a grin.
“Now, what treasures did this wizard go through so much trouble to hide?” He raised the lid and frowned. “Books. Why did I even ask?”
He and Ellice stepped away, no doubt to search for something more worth their while. As Alain carefully reached for one of the books, Mavery conjured her own orb of light. She brought it close enough to read the embossed lettering on the cover:A Treatise on the Ktonic Magicks. The author was—
“Aganast,” she gasped.
“And there’s that word again,” Alain said.
The two of them exchanged a look.
“Well, what are you waiting for?” Mavery nudged his shoulder. “Open it!”
“I will, but with caution. These books are centuries old.”
She nodded, though she still huffed impatiently as Alain took his time opening the cover. The book reeked with the musty stench of vellum—realvellum, not the cotton-based imitation that modern books were printed on. Many of the pages contained colorful illustrations of winged beasts. They looked more suitable for a book of fairy tales than a scholarly treatise. She attempted to read over Alain’s shoulder, but it was written in an old form of Osperlandish. That, combined with the blocky lettering, made the text difficult to parse at first glance.
There were still plenty more tomes to investigate, so Alain placed this one aside. Following his lead, Mavery extracted another book and handled it as though it were a newborn babe.
“Aganast also wrote this one,” she said. “The Burden of the Senova.What’s a ‘Senova’?”
“Not a clue. He coauthored this one aswell:The Ninth School.”
“NinthSchool? I thought there were only eight Schools of Magic.”
“Perhaps it’s referring to wizarding schools. The coauthors’ names look familiar. I’ll bet you anything they were members of the Order of Asphodel.”
“Either the wizard who owned this tower was a very dedicated fan, or Aganast wasn’t the humble sort.”
“Or, Aganast wanted to ensure his work didn’t fall into the wrong hands. Let me see your pack.”
Mavery raised her eyebrows at him.
“Mine is already filled with my own books,” he said, but she continued to stare at him. “What’s wrong?”
She shook her head as she laughed softly. “Pilfering first edition books like a common thief. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say I’ve rubbed off on you.”
Alain shrugged. “I highly doubt Aganast is going to mind. Now, help me gather these up. I want to study them more closely once we return to Archstone.”
“What, this décor isn’t cozy enough for you?” Neldren called from the opposite end of the room. “I thought wizards and towers went together like bread and butter.”
Alain turned to him, then startled. “What are you doing!?”
