Page 158 of A Tower of Half-Truths
The final leg of the journey stretched on interminably. They inched their way across the forest floor while being battered on all sides by invisible forces. The fog continued to thicken, and it was impossible to see more than a few yards ahead. At last, they passed through a dense copse, and Neldren came to a halt.
“Gods, I hate this fucking place.”
Even he could no longer ignore the magic, but Mavery wastoo miserable to find even a modicum of satisfaction from it. She feared that simply cracking a grin would turn her violently ill.
“This is it,” Alain breathed. His fingers gripped her upper arm. “We’re here.”
It took the last shred of her willpower to open her eyes fully.
Just beyond the trees was a column of green light that stretched from the ground to far above the tallest treetops. The sky swirled with thick gray clouds that completely obscured the sun. The ambient light must have come solely from magic.
As Mavery’s eyes adjusted—and as she fought a wave of nausea while attuning her Senses—she realized there was something strange, somethinguntamed,about this magic. Rather than pulsating gently, the green-hued ward thrashed like rapidly boiling water.
But that was all she could take in. Gazing at the magic for even a moment proved too much for her Senses. Alain’s staff slipped from her hand as she collapsed on all fours. Pain erupted from her bad knee, and as she opened her mouth to scream, she vomited the remains of her breakfast into the grass.
“Mavery!” Alain cried.
She was about to warn him to stand back, but nausea overcame her again, which had the same effect. She continued to heave until only bile remained. Wiping her mouth on her sleeve, she eased herself upright, coming to rest on her heels.
“I’ll take the potion now,” she muttered. “Front pocket.”
Alain retrieved the vial within seconds. She downed it in a single gulp before her stomach could protest. The magic was so powerful, even the potion couldn’t eradicate its effects. But her headache subsided enough for her to think and see clearly again. Before, the green aura had been an impenetrable curtain; now, it was a translucent veil.
Within it was a circular clearing where the grass was brown and shriveled, as though nature itself couldn’t withstand the strange magic. The clearing sloped gradually upward, and atop the desolate mound stood a stone building with a pointed roof. The temple itself was much smaller than Mavery had expected; it was barely larger than the mausoleums she’d seen in noble families’cemeteries. From this angle, the temple appeared to have a single entrance: a three-pointed archway. Etched into the pediment was the asphodel emblem from Alain’s notebook.
She tore her eyes away from it to look to her left. Ellice sat in the grass, clutching her head, while Neldren paced and surveyed the area. To Mavery’s right, Alain sat with the Sensing spell open across his lap. Mavery retrieved her canteen from her pack, swilled water to remove the taste of vomit.
“It’s green,” she said softly.
Alain looked up from the spell tome. “Come again?”
“The magic around the temple is green.”
He tapped his chin. “What shade of green, exactly?”
“Light green.” She sipped from her canteen as she gave the aura another look. “Sage.”
“If I’m not mistaken, you’ve Sensed that exact color before.”
Her mind was too addled to recall anything at the moment. Alain rummaged through his pack and pulled out one of his many notebooks. She peered over his shoulder and recognized the notes he’d scrawled on the day they’d first met, when she’d described the wards that had guarded his door.
“You associated sage green with my Diversion Ward—or Declan’s, rather. This confirms it: the temple is protected with an obfuscation ward. Declan’s spell included an augmentation from the Mysticism School. But, even by themselves, obfuscation wards are exceptionally complex magic. So much so, they always require an anchor, and all anchors will have—”
“Ley lines.” Mavery’s eyes widened. “Our spell will reveal those.”
“Precisely. If we can trace the ley lines to their source, we might be able to disable the ward. We’ll need to be prepared to destroy the anchor if necessary.”
“What are you two blathering on about?” Neldren asked.
“We’ve determined that the temple is protected by an obfuscation ward, most likely anchored to an Ether-sensitive mat—”
“InOsperlandish, if you don’t mind.”
“We might be able to get past the warding magic,” Mavery said. “But first, we need to track down what’s powering it.”
Forty-Eight
The more distance they put between themselves and the temple, the more its effects receded. Alain led the way this time, with the Sensing spell anchored to the iron coin he’d once given Mavery.
