“No. He’s punishing me for talking to you after he told me not to.” Brannon kept his gaze on the floor, and didn’t notice the way Tallis’ eyes narrowed. “I have to scrub this floor all day,” he continued, clearly much aggrieved. “And then I have to scrub the next hallway all day tomorrow. And then I have to keep scrubbing floors. One hallway a day. Until the monastery is shiny clean.”
Tallis leaned against the wall and slid down it until he was sitting down. The punishment reminded him, quite unfavorably, of the cold, pitiless orphanage where he had lived until he was thirteen. “You want me to do it for you?”
“What? Clean the monastery?” Brannon shook his head impatiently. “That’s not the point. It could be so clean that the Elder could eat off the floor, but I’d still have to scrub it.”
“I think the Elder is out of line,” Tallis said.
Brannon shrugged. “I disobeyed him and I’m being punished.”
“At least I can keep you company,” Tallis offered, ignoring the fact that he should be out trying to find the Mirror, rather than sitting on a cold monastery floor talking to a small boy.
“No, you can’t. I’m not to speak with you.”
Tallis’ eyes narrowed again. “Now that is just plain unreasonable. I will take that up with our most honorable Elder.”
“Why? So I can scrub the walls, too?”
“Because he’s being unfair,” Tallis said, trying to keep the anger out of his voice. “You’ve done nothing wrong. And I’m taking you with me when we’re done here and there’s not a damn thing he can do about it.”
“Oh, yeah. Tell him that.” Brannon’s voice dripped with sarcasm. “That’d really help.”
“Do you want me to not talk to you anymore?” Tallis asked, hesitant despite himself. He couldn’t really articulate why, but the mere thought of Brannon wanting him to go away made him feel miserable.
“I don’t know.” Brannon stared at his scrubbing rag. “It’s not fair. The Elder’s not going to let you talk to me and he’s not going to let you take me away, and I hate it here.”
“I’m not – ”
“Luan Qiang Yu!” The Elder’s voice thundered through the hallway. Brannon flinched, and went back to diligently scrubbing as the Elder approached. “I told you that you’re not to speak to him.”
“I started talking to him,” Tallis informed the Elder icily.
“I know very well I can’t control you,” the Elder said. He sounded quite angry, but he was keeping his temper on a tight leash. “But he is not to speak to you. In any case, shouldn’t you be doing your job? Perhaps you would have found the chest by now if you hadn’t been wasting your time with a foolish little boy!”
Tallis ignored the question and the implication. “Why is he not allowed to speak to me?”
“Because he is my charge and he will do as I say. This is not up for debate!”
“Yes, I think it is.” Tallis got to his feet. He was several inches taller than the Elder, and his normally unassuming presence started to fill the room. “I’m not hurting him. There is no harm being done.”
“We are not going to discuss this in front of the boy,” the Elder snapped, and Brannon leveled a hateful glare at him.
“He has a right to an opinion,” Tallis said. “He’s twelve, not four.”
“Decisions about children should be made by adults.”
“Not when the adult is being unreasonable.”
Elder Edrich sneered at Tallis. For the first time, he seemed to notice that Tallis was only nineteen, and contempt colored his voice. “This is none of your business. We brought you here to find the chest. For no other reason!”
“What would it take for you to let me spend time with him?” Tallis asked.
“Those decisions are not my domain,” the Elder said. “Only the highest of my order, the Sheng Yin, has control over decisions about the boy – ”
“He has a name, you know,” Tallis said, catching Brannon’s glare again. “You might start using it. And fine then, if it’s word from the Sheng Yin that you want, then that’s exactly what you’ll get.”
“And how exactly do you intend to get that?”
“By asking him.” Tallis sneered right back. “Unless you had something else in mind.”
“Do you intend to just walk away from the job you’re supposed to be doing for a week?”
“No. I’ll be back this afternoon.”
The Elder paled slightly, looking suddenly confused. The Sheng Yin, the highest of the priests in the old religion, resided in a city in the mountains called Bai Miao. It was over three days away by horse, longer if one wanted to take a carriage, and the journey was hardly an easy one. “How do you intend to do that? Even if you Gated, the nearest Gate is Nuan Huo – ”
“Wouldn’t you just love to know,” Tallis said, in a moment of pure, teenaged pique.
“I think I deserve an explanation if you’re going to take time off from the job I called you here to do.”
“And I deserve an explanation as to why you are making that job so difficult,” Tallis said. “We don’t always get what we want.” He turned to Brannon and his icy glare thawed into a smile. “I’ll be back later today.”
“Whatever,” Brannon muttered.
Tallis turned on one heel and marched out of the monastery. He met a sleepy and disgruntled Sienna in the forest. She seemed irritated that he was going to waste a whole day, but agreed that the situation with Brannon was a bit out of hand and it would be easier to leave the monastery with him if they went through the proper channels.
“Have you ever met the Sheng Yin?” she asked, yawning.
“No,” he said. “But I know one of his high priests very well. It’ll be all right.”
“If you say so. I’ll just keep working on those tracking and locator spells. I haven’t heard back from any of my contacts or the Academy yet.” She gave Tallis a steady, assessing look, then smiled sharply. “Good journey – and good hunting.”
“To you as well.” Tallis drew the Gate and was gone.
* * *
Chapter Nine
The Sheng Yin, the voice of the gods, resided at the most resplendent temple that still existed. It was over three thousand years old, and it was said that the Emperor himself had sometimes worshipped there. The Sacred City, where the Emperor had lived, had been destroyed at the same time the Imperial family had perished. The temple in Bai Miao had been home to the high priests ever since that time.
Tallis had never met him, but to start with, the Sheng Yin was not who he was interested in. He wanted information first, and that meant going to his old friend, a high priest named Jaron.
He had met Jaron when he was thirteen, after a rather spotty career at the Warder Academy that had ended in several different disasters. Jaron could have been a Warder if he had not become a priest, and had taken to tutoring Tallis personally. He had also converted Tallis to the old religion.
Tallis wasn’t exactly sure why, but there was something so simple and good about Jaron that it was impossible to resist. He, who had never known his parents and had hardly been treated with kindness at the orphanage or the Academy, had found a father. He had lived in Bai Miao for several years while he completed his education. The city was small, populated by fewer than five hundred monks and priests. Nestled high up in the mountains, it didn’t receive many visitors.
The city itself was designed in a series of concentric circles, with the High Temple in the center and most of the other buildings arranged around it. Tallis had always liked Bai Miao, and thought it was a beautiful place, constructed mainly of dark wood and white marble. It could be a little confusing for strangers, as the buildings all looked alike, but he could navigate it easily. Jaron’s job was educational in nature; he oversaw much of what was taught at the different seminaries. It was a job that took less and less time as the religion took in fewer and fewer students.
His offices were just across the way from the High Temple. The acolyte a
t the door knew Tallis. He greeted him with a smile and showed him inside. Jaron was working at his desk, but he stood when he saw Tallis and said hello in his deep, booming voice. Jaron was approaching fifty, and was built something like a bear: large without being overweight. A little stubble was visible on his scalp.
“Good to see you again, my son.” Jaron forewent the normal greeting of bows in favor of giving Tallis a bear hug, clapping his back with one of his overly large hands.
Tallis’ return smile was softer and not as broad as the cheerful face he normally put on, but it was far more genuine. “It’s nice to see you too, Elder Jaron.”
“What brings you here so suddenly?” Jaron asked, ushering Tallis into the chair across from his desk, shoving aside the stacks of books and papers so they would have room for the tray of tea and rice cakes that his acolyte was bringing in. “You should have at least warned me that you’d be coming.”
“I was planning on visiting soon anyway; I still will, for something longer. I’m actually here to talk to the Sheng Yin about a boy named Luan-Qiang-Yu-but-call-me-Brannon.”
Jaron let out a low whistle, but his brown eyes twinkled with amusement. “Going straight to the top these days, I see.”
“Well, Elder Edrich said he would only listen to the Sheng Yin, so that’s who I need to speak to.”
“Oh, I see. Elder Edrich making trouble for you?”
“Yes.” Tallis thought that Jaron looked far too amused by this whole situation. “What’s going on?”
“Elder Edrich is in a very large amount of trouble for letting that chest get stolen.”
“Then maybe he should put more effort into helping us get it back,” Tallis said. “Why all the cloak and dagger about it, and what does it all have to do with Brannon?”
Jaron slowly sipped his tea. He was the first person who had taught Tallis how to puzzle things out, and still enjoyed making him do things the hard way. “Do you know what was in that stolen chest?” he asked.
“The Mirror,” Tallis said with a nod. “Not that the Elder knows I’ve figured that out.”
“Exactly. A terrible shame, really.” Jaron was still joking, but a bit of anxiety crept into his voice. “You are going to get it back, aren’t you?”
Tallis set his tea down with a clink. “Father.”
“Yes, my son?”
“What is going on?”
Jaron reached across the table and refilled Tallis’ tea cup. “There’s a very popular theory among the high priests that Brannon is destined to be the next Emperor. He will revive the old religion and bring peace to the world.”
Tallis paused for a few moments, nibbling on a rice cake. It made a lot of what had been going on lately make sense, including his own impression of Brannon. “I could definitely see why they would think that,” he mused, thinking of listening to Brannon sing in the temple. He snapped his fingers suddenly. “That’s why the name was familiar. Luan Qiang Yu was the name of the last Emperor. The one who was killed. Did Edrich name him, or did he just turn up with that name?”
“The Sheng Yin chose the name, actually. The Elder serving there at the time he arrived, Petrus, is the one who started calling him Brannon. He said a little boy didn’t need to be burdened with such a heavy name.”
Tallis considered asking about Petrus’ whereabouts, but decided to come back to that. “Brannon seemed to think that the Regalia was his.”
“Edrich said that when they went down there the next morning, his anger was so thick in the air that some of the monks with a stronger gift passed out.”
“It doesn’t surprise me. It’s still bleeding from the stones.”
“Brannon is a very interesting child,” Jaron said, in a mild tone.
“I’m taking him with me when I leave the Temple,” Tallis informed him.
“I figured you would.” Jaron picked up a rice cake and tapped it against the table. “That’s part of the reason that Edrich is so bound and determined to keep you apart. Many of the high priests wanted to bring Brannon to Bai Miao for the duration of your investigation. Edrich insisted that he could have Warders at the monastery without them realizing that Brannon was there.”
“He found me,” Tallis said. “Not the other way around.”
“You would have found him anyway. Eventually you would have found the temple, and from there it wouldn’t have been difficult.” Jaron shook his head. “As long as our unknown thief is at large, Brannon is in danger if he stays where he is. But the Sheng Yin was concerned that after so long in isolation, Bai Miao would be overwhelming for him. He decided to leave Brannon where he is.”
Tallis was not thrilled to realize that Jaron knew the particulars of Brannon’s current situation. He studied the china for a few moments, the delicate pattern of the Imperial crest. “I have another question, Father,” he said. “What does this all have to do with me? And do you know anything about dragons?”
“Dragons?” Jaron seemed startled. “Why do you ask?”
Tallis turned the cup in his hand. “There are these smaller chests with things that used to belong to the Emperor personally. They were locked. Calessa could pick the magical locks, but later on, Brannon and I could open them without doing anything. Like the locks weren’t there at all. There’s an origami dragon. It’s . . . important. I don’t know why, and I don’t know why they just opened for me either.”
“You have a very strong connection to the gods, Tallis,” Jaron said. “And I think I would be right in assuming that you feel a very strong connection to Brannon?” He looked keenly at Tallis, and the teenager nodded without looking up. “The gods know their own. You have a strong enough magical gift that it doesn’t surprise me you can open the smaller chests.”
“What about the dragon?”
Jaron shrugged. “I don’t know everything, Tallis.”
“It bothers me,” Tallis murmured.
“I’m sure you’ll figure it out. Any other questions?”
“A few. Where is Petrus?”
Jaron busied himself stirring his tea. “Elder Petrus left the old religion shortly after Brannon’s arrival. I don’t know his current whereabouts.”
“Why did he leave?”
“That’s something you would have to ask him. There were some disagreements about how to handle Brannon’s arrival.”
Tallis wasn’t sure he necessarily believed all this, which troubled him. Jaron could be evasive, but he rarely told a lie. “What about the Sword?”
“Ah, the Sword.” Jaron smiled again. “The Sword is a complicated problem involving church politics, which I wager you have no interest in.”
“I’m becoming more interested by the minute,” Tallis said dryly.
“Indeed.” Jaron again looked faintly amused. “Some time ago, it was pointed out that keeping all three of the Regalia in the same place was not necessarily intelligent, and that Elder Edrich was not someone in whom we all had infinite faith. The long and the short of it is that the Sword, as the artifact most valuable to people other than the Emperor, was removed from the Elder’s care. It has not been stolen. It is quite safe.”
“If you don’t have enough faith in Elder Edrich to keep all of the Regalia, why has Brannon been left in his care?”
“Some people have more faith in the honorable Elder than some others.”
“I’m not one of them.”
“Obviously,” Jaron said, with a snort, “but you are not the Sheng Yin.”
Tallis grit his teeth for a moment. “What are the plans for Brannon? Because I’m not sure he’ll agree.”
“To raise him in the church, to bring him up to be the new Emperor. I have not been much involved with Brannon, more’s the pity, although Edrich did inform me once that Brannon had proclaimed me, and I quote, ‘the only tolerable person in the whole religion’.”
Tallis’ lips twitched in a smile; he could definitely see the boy deciding this of Jaron. “I think everyone’s going to get a surprise soon. I’m giving him to the Ward
er Academy for training. I’m not going to let them just keep him locked away.”
Jaron shrugged slightly. “I’ve got to say I’m not sorry to see it happen.”
“I’m glad at least one person will back me on this,” Tallis said. Warder law superseded both church law and local laws, so there was nothing the Elder or even the Sheng Yin could do to stop Tallis from taking him to the Academy, but defying their will still made him nervous.
“I never said I would, officially,” Jaron said, and winked. “But you’re right. And he gains power from being on holy ground.”
“So the temple is both the safest and the most dangerous place for him,” Tallis mused.
“Yes. Once his magic has been trained, it’ll just be the safest. But until then, he’s a danger, not only to himself, but to the other brothers.”
“Would you be willing to tutor him?” Tallis asked. “His magic just isn’t quite like anybody else’s.”
“You seem to think he wouldn’t get a proper education at the Warder Academy, Tallis. Bitter?”
Tallis looked away, remembering the stares and worried glances from his teachers when he did yet another inexplicable piece of magic, the catcalling and pranks that bordered on cruel from the other students, struggling through tests that asked the simplest questions that somehow, he could not answer. Most vividly, he remembered panicking and blowing an entire building into splinters. “Just looking to avoid any disasters. Besides, it’s not like the Academy has any holy places or people to teach him how to use his power there.”
“I’ll do what I can for him, but I can’t guarantee that he’ll learn any better from me.” Jaron’s voice became momentarily wistful, his eyes far away. “I’ve only met him once, but he seems quite . . . remarkable.”
“Did he pelt you with questions?”
“Oh, yes. I was there for the formal worship ceremony of the Regalia. It was the first time he had seen it. He was very put out because he had already questioned everyone else, up to and including the Sheng Yin, and no one else would answer his questions. He kicked me in the shin the first time I tried to prevaricate.”
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