Lawgiver’s Blade: Chapter Four Part One
July 3rd, 2019 | Published in Lawgiver's Blade | 1 Comment
The next year marked the turning of the Octade and even in Shael most lessons were cancelled so the children could celebrate and the adults took time from their work to feast, dance and sing as their celebrated the holiest of festivals, the only one that all eight peoples of the Alait archipelago celebrated, the Arosia – the feast of Deliverance and Arrival.
Alidra’s family did well out of the festivities, offering lodging to many of the pilgrims who passed through the town on their way to Andil, the Laglini city of temples which marked where the eight peoples had met and divided the islands between themselves when they fled from the mainland. From these visitors rumour soon reached them that High Mage Kadriya had left Keralyn for the first time in several years and travelled to the Laglini city of Andil to rededicate Rindalam’s temple there.
“And no doubt to spend some time with the parts of her family who she was separated from after the Mage Wars ended,” Denri murmured to Tamasa the first time one of their guests mentioned it.
“No doubt,” Tamasa said.
A few weeks later as the pilgrim’s returned home they began to hear another rumour. That there, away from Keralyn, Kadriya had been struck by a vision from the Lawgiver himself and had begun reciting the words of an extraordinary prophecy. Her attendants had summoned scribes and, the stories said, fully a week had passed before she awoke when they had finally got every single word, and now the whole mage council was sequestered at Keralyn arguing about what it meant.
Kadriya was not with them. After she woke and read what she had said in her trance she had apparently declared that she would not return to Keralyn until she had made a circuit of the whole of Tehan province for it was mentioned in the prophecy and she felt she would find more enlightenment following the words rather than discussing them.
That caused a frenzy of excitement in Shael. The village lay on the main road from Tehan to the sea, surely the High Mage would be passing through on her journey, it was too much to think she would stay long in such a small place but they might be able to gain her blessings.
Meanwhile the end of the Arosia marked another change for the children of Shael. When their combat lessons had resumed after the festivities, Lilat had moved from teaching them the mundane sword and bow forms they had been learning thus far to covering the guard forms that allowed them to channel the natural magic of the environment into their weapons even without any magical ability of their own. It was fun to see the targets crumble in a way they never had before, but ever since they began Natlin had been creating a massive storm even though this curriculum had been mandated by High Mage Kadriya herself. Her son Adin had even stopped coming to classes – and not just the combat ones – recently and no longer played with the other children and fled from them if they approached him in the fields.
It was silly in Alidra’s opinion. Even Aunt Mayin, who was very uncomfortable with what they were learning had reluctantly conceded to it when Lilat showed her the magically unforgable orders from Keralyn. Natlin, however, was tangling her threads to explain why obeying the orders was heresy when she also claimed that not obeying a mage was also heresy. And today, while Alidra and her friends were practising their guard drills on the green she had stormed out of her house without Adin and started shrieking at them to stop, drawing the other adults who were in the village rather than out in the fields or similar to see what was happening.
“Natlin, go and fetch Adin,” Lilat said, calm and cold in the face of the woman’s rage. “You know school attendance is mandated by both High Mage Kadriya and the Mage Council. Don’t make me report your recalcitrance and call in a mediator. You would not like the results.”
“I do not believe in these orders!” Natlin snarled. “You have deceived the council somehow! They would not permit you to do this. I will not let you corrupt Adin further. I will save the village from you, deceiver.” She stormed off, back to her house.
“Did she just call you a witch?” Tamasa was among those drawn by the altercation.
“She didn’t use that word.” Lilat snorted and her lips twitched. “But you know, I think that she did. I’ve been called worse.” She sobered and shook her head. “But she’s going too far abusing my charges and keeping her son from his classes. I really will have to report this and request a mediator mage from Keralyn to deal with her. Not what we need right now. An unfortunate number of mediators are Perfectionists and I really don’t want them here messing with my hard work.”
“Perhaps they should mediate themselves then, though Holy Kadriya will no doubt feel the same. And I imagine she’ll be here in a day or so,” Tamasa said. “Talk to her then. She’ll probably have a mediator she trusts in her entourage anyway.”
Lilat nodded slowly. “That is a good thought, Tam. She’s travelling with Vessin among others. He’s a mediator and knows the village after all which makes him a good choice.”
“Excellent, I like Vessin,” Tamasa replied. “And he was concerned about Natlin last year which means he’ll take it seriously.”
“Exactly.” Lilat nodded. “I think I’ll send her a message anyway. She might be able to hurry a bit and I am worried about Adin because the way Natlin is acting. Would you watch the children for me?”
The way to topple a government is to destabilize the foundations of the government. It seems something or someone or some people are out to do just that. The question is how are they doing it?