Spellwright

The landing itself was a narrow slab of gray stone surrounded by a crenellated barricade. To the right of the door, inside a small stone nook, slept an eyeless gargoyle with a bat’s face and a pudgy infant’s body. Shannon shook its shoulder.

The spell woke with a twitch. “My father has no ears,” it croaked. “My father taught me to hear. My father has no eyes; he taught me to see. My father is covered with cowhide.”

“Construct, you were fathered from a spellbook,” Shannon answered the verification riddle. “And my wisdom was fathered from a codex of Ejindu’s teachings. My name is Agwu Shannon.”

The gargoyle reached under its feet, into a stone recess that held its white-marble eyes. Other, heavier gargoyles would steal the eyes if it slept with them in.

The gargoyle inserted each marble sphere into its socket, then studied Shannon. “I siphoned a message for you from the last colaboris.” It drew from its belly a glowing, golden rectangle.

Shannon took the paragraph. The Numinous runes felt glassy smooth in his hands. He translated:

Ejindu’s Sons greet our Brother-in-Exile. We feared he had forsaken us. Since the attack on Trillinon and the horrible fire it unleashed, Astrophell has been in chaos.

We gladly accept the information our Brother-in-Exile has offered. We do not know if the events in Starhaven pertain to the Erasmine Prophecies. We think it unlikely that Nicodemus Weal is the Halcyon. However, we gladly provide what answers and assistance we can.

ANSWER: We know of no faction wishing our Brother or his students harm.

ANSWER: We have no knowledge of Mg. Nora Finn’s briber or murderer. No Language Prime revival is known to us.

ANSWER: We know little of Mg. Amadi Okeke other than that she has secretly sworn allegiance to the counter-prophecy faction.

ANSWER: In exchange for our Brother’s public pledge of support, we shall grant him full use of our Starhaven constructs; however, at this time, we are unwilling to endanger any of our few Starhaven spellwrights by assigning them to your cause.

We hope this generous support convinces our Brother to rejoin the Sons in our struggle for a united and peaceful Numinous Order.

Shannon let out a long, relieved breath. This response to his original message, sent earlier that morning, was better than expected. He ripped the sentences apart and began mulling over the answers.

The Sons were always well informed of academic politics. If they did not know of a plot against him, then he was sure none existed. That, taken with their ignorance of Nora Finn’s briber and murderer, provided strong evidence that the creature Shannon had encountered was not connected to the academy.

Amadi’s allegiance to the counter-prophecy factions was more troubling. Sentinels were prohibited from wizardly politics: a fact that did not stop many sentinels from covertly advancing a faction’s interests.

More important, Amadi’s allegiance explained why the provost-a counter-prophecy supporter-had appointed her to lead the investigation. It also explained her interest in Nicodemus’s scar shaped like an Inconjunct and why she had wanted to know what the provost had thought of it. Amadi had also asked the boy if he noticed that chaos increased around him. She must suspect that Nicodemus was not the Halcyon, but the Storm Petrel-a destroyer predicted by the counter-prophecy to oppose the Halcyon.

“Magister, how do you answer?” the bat-faced gargoyle croaked.

Shannon started; he had forgotten about the Sons’ offer of assistance. “Construct, have you read the message?”

The spell wrinkled its bat nose. “I have, as my author intended me to.”

“I do not accuse you, gargoyle, I simply need some answers. How many constructs do the Sons command? Do they still control the compluvium?”