Page 161 of A Tower of Half-Truths
He laughed coldly, unconvinced.
Forty-Nine
When the temple came into view again, it was no longer enclosed within the water-like wall Alain had seen earlier, and he suspected Mavery no longer saw the sage-hued aura. The temple now appeared an innocuous building that had been tucked away in the forest and long forgotten. The fog had lifted, and the sun shone directly overhead, bathing the clearing in sunlight.
The Transmutation spell had successfully destroyed the temple’s external defenses. Alain could only hope that any magicwithinthe temple had also been disabled. He now carried a bone-deep ache that flared with every step he took, and he doubted he had the strength to pull off anything more complex than a protective ward. Fortunately, the Sensing spell was still anchored to the coin in his hand.
He recalled a time during his first year at university, when he’d managed to get his hands on a Transmutation primer. Those spells were intended for sixth-year students, but his curiosity had gotten the better of him. He’d attempted the most basic of Transmutation spells: instantaneously turning water into vapor. At twenty-eight runes, the incantation was longer than any he’d learned in his classes at that point. After reciting the incantation in his head a dozen times, he’d spoken it aloud.
On his first attempt, the water in his cup had vanished. Butbefore he could revel in his success, he’d passed out.
The next thing he’d known was awaking in the University’s infirmary three days later, with violent nausea and a personalized note from Chancellor Lythandus, informing him that his next foolish stunt would earn him academic probation.
As Alain approached the clearing, he felt a bit like his seventeen-year-old self again. Only now, there was more than his transcript at stake.
“The Sensing spell only has a radius of thirty feet,” he said. “Stay close.”
With Mavery and her Senses leading the way, just in case there was any magic the spell couldn’t detect, they trudged through the grassy clearing and toward the smaller clearing that was devoid of life. Dotting the landscape were corpses in various stages of decay: rabbits, squirrels, and other small creatures that had wandered too close.
“Trap up ahead,” Mavery announced.
Alain approached, then pushed aside a thistle with the butt of his staff. Beneath it was a red aura anchored to an Ether-sensitive stone embedded in the dirt. Alain wondered how many more detonation wards had been buried here, how many innocents had been killed or maimed over the years.
They continued onward until the other three groaned in unison. Mavery stopped, hunching over as though she were about to be ill again.
“Oh, gods, is that what I think it is?” Ellice said, pinching her nose.
“It is, sorry to say,” Neldren groaned.
Alain turned to them. “What is it?”
“How do you not smellthat?” Neldren cried, pointing at a large dark object in the grass nearby.
“Years of alchemy experiments have made me immune to most—”
He froze as he realized the object was a corpse. Auburn hair flashed before his eyes, then he blinked. No,thiscorpse had black hair. Alain’s stomach lurched at how the left leg had been blown apart at the ankle. The foot lay several yards away. The rest of thebody was stomach-side down, bloated from lying in the sun, but it was still in the early stages of decomposition—a few days, at most. Even the wildlife hadn’t yet picked it apart.
“This has to be the bloke Benard told us about,” Neldren said, shaking his head. “Poor bastard must’ve triggered one of those blasting wards.”
Detonation,Alain thought, but he lacked the capacity to do anything but stare at the corpse as Mavery’s hand slipped into his.
“It’s not him,” she whispered.
“I know,” he whispered back. “But gods…knowing now what happened, seeing it in person.” He closed his eyes and breathed deeply.
She squeezed his hand but said nothing more. He doubted there was anything shecouldsay.
Alain opened his eyes, cleared his throat. “Let’s keep moving.”
“Finally,”Neldren muttered.
They left the corpse behind and encountered no more traps as they approached the innermost clearing. They climbed the slight hill, their boots crunching on dead grass, and finally stood before the temple. The archway was nearly three feet off the ground, but there were no steps leading up to it.
Neldren, being the tallest, pulled himself through the opening first, then helped each of the women up. Alain waited, practically trembling with anticipation as the place he’d researched for years was now merely feet away. He all but threw himself at Neldren’s proffered hand. Once his feet were on solid ground again, Alain pushed aside the slight strain on his arcana and conjured an orb of Ether. He directed it toward the pitched ceiling, and the white light revealed…
Nothing.
The Innominate Temple was a plain stone room. Aside from the entrance, it had neither doors nor windows. It contained no treasures, no iconography, not even a single plaque explaining its purpose.
