The Wizard Book

by Radu Aldea

  “If Lucian was scared of someone, it was Kara. He knows her, knows what she is, sorry, was capable of. He’s met Julia, too, however he doesn’t have the same in depth knowledge of her.” Kara was sure Maya was looking at her and smirked when she said that. Was that a jibe directed at her? The relationship between her and Lucian was not a secret and practically every senator knew about it. Everybody was anxious to see if she got pregnant. Baby names were offered. They didn’t know Kara had no intention of having Lucian’s child and was taking a contraceptive potion. The problem was that while Kara had had an affair with Lucian, there was no connection between him and Olivia. As far as she knew, they had never met. So why was Maya smirking? Was it possible Maya knew who she was? Kara dismissed that thought. She was sure she had never met the girl and she had an almost perfect memory. It was even better when it came to faces. And nobody had recognized her so far. It was highly unlikely a sixteen-year-old would uncover her. Nevertheless, something troubled her and it wasn’t only the wealth of knowledge Maya had about Julia. She had been wrong about Julia’s power, but maybe that wasn’t a mistake. If people believed Maya, and Kara had to admit that except for being wrong her argument was pretty solid, they wouldn’t think Julia was as big of a threat as she really was. That was in her friend’s favor. It made sense to reveal their powers to prevent a war, but now that the war was actually here, keeping them secret was preferable. And Julia wouldn’t be a target, because, right now, her friend was the biggest target out there. Kara still wasn’t sure if Maya was doing this intentionally – what motive could Robert’s errand girl possibly have – or she was just helping them without realizing.

  “Don’t mind me,” Maya broke her thoughts, “I should think before I speak. About those books though, you should check all the old families even if they don’t have the power. I have a feeling items like these are family heirlooms. Some might even be willing to sell them.”

  Maya was helping. She just gave her a pretty good idea. Cyprian looked doubtful that someone would actually sell a book like that and Kara had to agree, but it wasn’t like she was going to ask nicely. Yes, it did make sense to have a list of all the old families.

  “Can you make me a list? Rank them according to their age.”

  “I’m not sure it’s possible to make a complete list and it’s a lot of work.”

  Kara scowled. Why was he being difficult? It was what historians did, after all. “I will pay you for your work. Just name the price.”

  “It’s not about the gold. I will have to consult the genealogies for this and they don’t go back far enough and are incomplete.” He was right. Every house had them and presumably they held a record of every senator born, but oversights happened. They were not secret and access to them was allowed. The problem was the oldest entry didn’t go back more than two hundred years. Kara had consulted her family’s genealogy and it was considered one of the oldest. “Finding the descendants of those old families, which I assume is what you want, is meticulous work and may be futile. There could be hundreds of descendants and there is no guarantee I could find them all. In fact, I’m pretty sure I won’t. It will be a waste of my time and your money, because even if these books exist nobody is going to give them to you.”

  That’s the one thing Cyprian said she didn’t agree with. She knew those books were out there and she was going to find them. “Why don’t you think they exist?”

  “Because I don’t see their effect on the world. Books have power, they influence our lives. If anyone had some secret knowledge, we would see it. There would be advances in sciences, engineering and so on that we could not explain. We don’t have that. In fact every discovery comes as an organic conclusion from what we already know.”

  “Perhaps the knowledge in those books is not more advanced than ours,” Kara replied. It wasn’t more advanced, it was simply different. Their age was rationalist, while she got the impression from the books she had seen that people from before were more mystical. Their knowledge, as her successful ritual had proved, was just as valuable if not more so.

  “If people possess something this valuable and only the age made it so, they would brag about it and show it to impress.”

  Cyprian was right. Lucian had shown her that book to impress her. He didn’t think there was something valuable in it. At that moment Kara agreed with him, but she read the book nevertheless. She didn’t mention her own. Her parents and ancestors kept it secret and there was no reason she shouldn’t do the same. Outside the family, they only trusted Julia and her parents. Unlike Kara, her friend was not as obsessed. She did read them, though.

  The content was similar, some of it was common to all three books or two of them and some was unique. Fortunately, the ritual she performed was only in her book.

  “Maybe we do see the effect and we don’t realize it. You said it, the Levilli have been powerful for a very long time. Maybe they use these books to increase their power.”

  Maya was making trouble again and Kara wanted to strangle her. There was no reason why she came up with such a ridiculous theory. Her family on her mother’s side didn’t use the book to gain more power. Kara was the first to do so. She still didn’t know if Maya was some idiot-savant who came up with absurd theories that sometimes were right or she really knew.

  “You know powerful senators give birth to powerful senators and weak senators to other weak senators. It’s the way things are. Some families rise and others fall in time, but it takes generations.” Again, Cyprian was the voice of reason. “Are you saying the Levilli are using some spell for more power?”

  “I am saying that we have seen one of those unexplained advances. The three hundred barrier was shattered and senators have been close to it for as long as we know and none of them have been able to break it until now. Suddenly, five people claimed they did it. Why now? Maybe someone had access to some forgotten knowledge and figured out how to perform some spell or ritual.” Maya suddenly shut up when she saw the look on Kara’s face.

  Maya knew about the ritual she had performed and wasn’t just guessing. There was no doubt about it now. How could she possibly know? There had been nobody else on that mountain other than Michael. There was no way Kara could think of how Maya had learned about the ritual, yet she did know. She also knew about the books and what they contained. Although she suspected that might be the case, Kara was shocked. The girl had been playing with her all this time. It was possible she recognized her. Suddenly she felt the weight of the dagger hidden in her sleeve. She knew she was good enough and Maya wouldn’t get the opportunity to react if she decided to use the blade.

  “If someone had knowledge like that they wouldn’t share it with their rivals. Some of the Circle are allies, but others are enemies,” Cyprian pondered.

  “You’re right. I am being ridiculous. Still, you have to admit it’s strange so many senators have broken a barrier thought unbreakable until now.” It was strange, but Kara had other things on her mind right now. Maya seemed to understand something had changed because even though she made that light comment in an attempt to reduce the tension, she was focused on Kara. Cyprian and Teresa didn’t seem to notice the sudden hint of violence in the room. Perhaps using the dagger was the wrong choice and this was the opportunity to test her new powers. Kara melded a tendril of power.

  Chapter twenty-one

  Hilderfort was safe at night. At least as safe as a city of a hundred thousand could be. Aleyna liked it here. The city was alive in a way that energized her. There were so many things to do and, while she was here, she wanted to do everything. A pang of grief hit her. She just remembered Kara didn’t like the capital of Western Suttland. Her friend didn’t like any city. It had to do with the crowds and her instinctive wariness of them. Coming here had been a compromise, one Kara had been willing to make. She would never let Aleyna come here alone and unprotected. Sometimes they came in disguise, sometimes not. Although Kara had never worn senatorial insignia, on occasion she had to attend to sen
atorial business. Hilderfort was in Arvillii territory, after all, and the revenue from the taxes was huge.

  Not that many people would think it. The taxes were the lowest in the empire and there were fewer of them. When twenty years ago, after the Great War, Kara’s family had gained control of the region and the city – this happened under the protests of many senators who didn’t like one family gaining such a large city, but the Arvillii or Levilli, depending what you wanted to call them, although the latter was more accurate at that moment, had had too much power and prestige to be truly challenged – they decided to experiment. They reduced some of the taxes and eliminated others in the attempt to encourage commerce and industry. With the empire ravaged by war it was the only thing they could do if they wanted to prevent more deaths and rebuild. The success was beyond what anyone expected. The population more than doubled and the economic growth was even greater.

  Nothing recommended the success of the experiment, not the location or the resources of the hinterland. Strangely enough, this went mostly unnoticed. None of the cities of the empire were free, most barely survived under the burden imposed by their lords, human as well as senator. The only ones who tried to imitate them were the Metteli, years later, when they become powerful enough and took over Wennfort, the Eastern Suttland capital.

  Hilderfort was not free either. It was just freer than the rest of the cities. The Arvillii had a vested interest in keeping the gold flowing, and that meant in some situations very little interference and in others visible, direct involvement. There was virtually no crime or criminals, as that would disrupt the flow of gold, not because they liked humans. Some of them, like Kara, did it because it was right, but Aleyna had no illusions about the others. Good intentions or not, they did keep the territory they controlled safe, so she couldn’t blame them for that.

  The night was safe in Hilderfort. That’s what allowed her to be alone in an empty, dark alley. Well, she wasn’t actually alone and the alley wasn’t exactly empty. Aleyna found a corner perfect for hiding and watching a certain door. The door was not important, nor was the house, but the person hiding there was. The priest of the sun.

  She had not come to the city alone. Christian and Sarah were backup. Although she knew she might need a senator down the road, Aleyna thought she could do this alone, but Julia had insisted and everyone else agreed. Things were considerably more complicated than she expected. The petite blonde was also responsible for their delayed arrival. She wanted all the traces of the battle destroyed. Everyone could understand why keeping that secret was a good idea, but cleaning the field had proven more difficult and it required the presence of both her companions, with so many of their senators being occupied with securing the mountains or scouring southern Cuttland. Since an agreement had been reached with Julia, the westerners had also become active on their side of their northern neighbor and this was only the beginning.

  Gaining entry to Hilderfort was deceptively easy. The capital of Western Suttland was one of the few cities in the empire without defensive walls. Getting in without being noticed was slightly more difficult. People tended to remark four hundred soldiers even if they missed two young battle-senators. But it was their city. Even though most battle-senators and some of the weaker ones were gone there were still enough members of the family in Hilderfort to keep it under control. They might be under a hundred, but were senators and had soldiers. More than a hundred lived here and most were still present.

  Aleyna, Christian and Sarah had arrived in the middle of the night. A few senators they trusted, informed of their arrival, were waiting. Unlike the weak senators of other families, they had good reason to be loyal. The wealth trickled down to them and everybody got their share of the family’s fortune. Yes, the forty or so battle-battle senators of the family got more and owned almost all the land of the house, but everyone was wealthy or at least lived a very comfortable life and was richer than almost any human. She heard of senators in other provinces, who took money, they claimed it was for protection, from rich humans. Taking land was more problematic, the other houses wouldn’t look kindly upon it, and the peace treaty after the Great War specified clearly what constituted senatorial land. Then it was divided among the houses, taking under consideration each family’s power. Changes did occur as borders changed and territory was gained or lost, but usually they were not significant. One way to increase your land holdings was through marriage with a human, which is how the Metteli got Wennfort.

  They spent the night in the house of a young senator named Thea, who was an under a hundred but also a diviner, which made her a lot more valuable than your usual weak senator, a fact made obvious by the size of her house. It was large enough to host a lot of their soldiers and the few who remained were divided among the rest of the welcoming committee.

  In the morning, unsurprisingly, Thea was up long before they were and the questions she’s been holding back last night came pouring out.

  “Is anyone going to tell me what’s going on?” Thea asked when they appeared.

  Aleyna was not exactly surprised, but she was cranky in the morning, especially when she didn’t get enough sleep. Which she definitely didn’t last night. And they did decide it was better to keep the details secret. But facts were starting to leak and they still didn’t come close to match the damage done by the rumors. She had been irritable since the attack, not a surprise, really. The senators, especially the weaker ones, were worried. She understood that, too. Maybe they should tell the rest of the family. This would create other problems, however. Aleyna was sure there were spies among them. “We are under attack on many fronts.”

  She wasn’t sure the priests of the sun were actually a threat to her family or simply delusional, but she had a bad feeling about them. She could never forget it was free humans who had attacked her and Kara and she definitely didn’t like coincidences.

  “She has the right to know,” Sarah spoke. Surprisingly, she was looking at Aleyna waiting for permission. It was made clear by both Reyna and Marcia she was in charge of the operation and Christian and Sarah were here only to help, but she was taken aback by Kara’s cousin. Then she remembered how disciplined senators were, that most of them were not leaders, although these two were going to make great ones in a few years. Right now they were still young and deferred to her greater experience. Aleyna nodded slightly and Sarah told only the facts, not what they deduced from them or believed. Thea was content with that.

  “These priests of the sun, what do you know about them?” Aleyna asked the diviner.

  “Not much! I wasn’t really interested in them. I do know there is only one priest. The rest are followers. They hide most of the time except when they are out creating trouble and preaching. They don’t use the same place twice and didn’t have much success so far.”

  “Are you telling me these cretins have been running around in our city and nobody has done anything about them or knows where they hide?” Sarah was horrified and so was Aleyna.

  “I didn’t say that. Others were interested and took control of the priest and his followers and found out, much to their shock, that his claim he can resist senatorial control is true. They got scared and realized they should let someone higher up know what is happening, because this was too big for them to decide. If not for the attack on Kara and Rufus they would’ve attracted a lot of attention. I thought you were just going to ignore it, I mean I know everyone has more important things to do right now, but I thought this deserved your notice and then you came. It’s so strange, I haven’t heard of anything like it.” Silence and questioning looks convinced Thea she should continue even though she was babbling a little. “The way I understand it we can read his mind, but we can’t make him do anything. Do you think this is somehow connected with the attacks? I mean, that’s why you are here, aren’t you?”

  It was. Nobody believed in coincidences and this resurgence of humanity, although the two events seemed unconnected, was troubling. The timing certainly made Aleyn
a wonder.

  “It is unlikely, if what you’re saying is true, but you are right, it’s worth investigating.” Aleyna agreed in principle with Christian, after all Kara had no problem controlling the men during the battle, but she wasn’t ready to dismiss it. The difference in power between these senators and her friend was too great to come to a conclusion.

  “Kara controlled the humans, but she is who she is, and I’m guessing the guys who attempted it with this priest of the sun were not that powerful.” Aleyna wasn’t asking a question.

  “We are all that’s left here. Half of us were summoned as well. Anyway, I don’t think they had anything to do with the attack. My friend would’ve let me know if they did.” Their quizzical looks let Thea know they didn’t really understand what she was saying. “My friend still has control of some of them, and he is connected to the priest, so we know exactly what they are doing and thinking. And we know exactly where they are or will be.”

  Which was why, hours later, they were in a market. Thea and her friend, a male senator named Baelis, had come with them. Aleyna wondered for a moment if something was going on between the two, there probably was, but she decided quickly it was none of her business. It was a good idea to have the two here. Thea had unique skills and Baelis knew all the players. This way they wouldn’t waste time figuring out who everyone was.

  The market was pretty busy, just like the other locations this little cult had chosen. They thought they were pretty clever and nobody was going to find them. Anyone who thought he could hide from senators was a fool. And these guys certainly were that, because they were trying. How long did they think it would take a senator to figure out which type of places they used for their preaching and have people watch all of them?

  Well, it had only taken days, but since they didn’t encounter any resistance the cult probably thought they were safe. Aleyna and the others had soldiers with them, disguised as common folk. Killing or capturing the priest and his followers was not what this outing was about. If they wanted to do that they knew where to find them and make them disappear without anyone being the wiser. Aleyna didn’t want the priest, she already had him; she wanted the person who was pulling his strings, if such a person existed. She was willing to bet that person did exist.