“Wouldn’t you be intrigued to know?”
Jayna shrugged, looking around the room, feeling the power there. Maybe this was a cell, as she had initially suspected. The energy that constricted around her would certainly hold, and given the iron worked into it—which had always affected magic—there was no reason it wouldn’t.
She pushed those thoughts away. What was she doing thinking about that sort of thing when she had something more urgent to focus on?
“I suppose I haven’t really given it much thought. I didn’t know if it mattered. It happened so long ago that the Society spoke of it as myth.”
Like stories about the Ashara.
“History matters, Jayna Aguelon. The more you know about history, the easier it is for you to anticipate what might happen in the future.”
“You care about history because you care about the power that you cannot acquire.”
“That is but a part of it,” he said, nodding. “There is something to be said about some of the older enchantments.” He smiled tightly, slipping his gaze along the walls before looking down at the book then up at her. “The earliest dular had a very different appreciation for what they could do with their enchantments.”
“You mean they had weapons.”
“Not everything is a weapon, Jayna Aguelon.”
That was different from what Telluminder had said to her about the enchantments, though maybe Master Raollet was right.
“No, not everything is a weapon,” she agreed with him, and crossed her arms over her chest, her mind racing. How much of this had Ceran known?
More than ever, she wanted an opportunity to talk to him, to try to find out what he might have known. He had wanted to show her some of the twelve, but if the twelve had been the original sorcerers . . .
It meant they were incredibly old.
Sorcerers don’t live that long.
She had learned about some sorcerers who could extend their lives, and magic in general permitted a longer lifespan than others, but she had never known any sorcerer to live for centuries at a time.
“You are troubled by this,” he said. “I’m not surprised. It might be difficult for you to take it in.”
“It’s not difficult. And I think you aren’t quite right.”
“Perhaps not. As I said, this is merely a historical text. And history is written by those who choose to write about it, typically those who win.”
“Considering the dular settled in Nelar, they would choose their history.”
“Exactly. Still . . .”
“You don’t think they were misleading.”
He shook his head. “I do not.”
“Why not?”
“Because there are too many elements here that are consistent with what I’ve uncovered elsewhere. It’s not only what I’ve found in this book or what I’ve seen in the enchantments we’ve uncovered. It’s also in . . .” He rested his hands on the book, looking up and holding her gaze for a moment. “I just remembered that perhaps I shouldn’t share all of this with somebody who was so willing to attack my shop.”
“I didn’t attack your shop. I was trying to prevent you from attacking the El’aras.”
“An interesting choice from a sorcerer.”
“Perhaps not nearly as interesting if you’d learn anything about sorcerers.”
He chuckled. “I have shared with you what I know.”
“You’ve shared with me what you want me to know, but you haven’t shared with me everything you know.” There was a possibility that he was trying to mislead her, trying to guide her into taking action, or perhaps trying to simply misinform her. Jayna had enough experience not to trust him completely, but at the same time, why would he tell her what he had thinking it would cause a reaction?
She didn’t know.
“What do you hope to get out of this?” Jayna asked.
“You claimed you were there for the Festival of the Mourn.”
“I was there. I stopped Gabranth from freeing Asymorn.”
“Why here?” Raollet said, tapping his mouth.
“I don’t know. I just know they were attempting to go through with their dark festival to free some power. Or perhaps even to free Asymorn.”
“And did they succeed?”
“I don’t think so, but it’s possible.”
Raollet tipped his head the side and stared at one of the walls. “If he is freed, I wonder how many of the others are.”
“At least one,” she admitted.
“Norej?”
Jayna shook her head. “As far as I know, the Order of Norej hadn’t succeeded in freeing him. There is another named Inoash who I know is freed.”
His eyes widened. “He should not be.”
“You know of him.”
“He revels in darkness. He enjoys chaos and violence. He is the Instigator.”
He certainly matched that description based on the battle she’d seen. He had stood off to the sideline, watching, enjoying the fighting. And he had been aware of them, despite Ceran thinking he should not be. If he were aware of her, then there was not much that would keep him from coming after them.
“What of the others?”
Jayna shook her head. “I don’t know the others.”
“Then perhaps there is time,” he said.
“How much do you know of Sarenoth?” Jayna asked.
“I’ve told you that his is a dark power. He granted a connection to his power to those earliest of the twelve, the power needed in order for them to overthrow the El’aras, along with anyone else that opposed the initial twelve.”
“It’s because of Sarenoth that the Society succeeded?”
“Succeeded? No. It’s because of him that the Society thrived.”
If that were the case, then the connection to the Society was deeper than Jayna had believed. The Celebrants of Asymorn had been sorcerers. They had been willing to serve Sarenoth. The same with the Order of Norej. They had been burrowed within the Society. Revered. And there had been sorcerers out on the battlefield as well.
How extensive was it?
The real challenge was finding sorcerers who were not involved.
Jayna turned her attention to the book when an explosion thundered from above.
She darted forward.
“They have tracked you,” Raollet said. “You should stay down here. If the same man has returned—”
“If he’s returned, I’m not going to get caught down here where I can’t use my power effectively,” Jayna said.
She reached the outer edge of the room, feeling the washing of energy swirling over her, then stepped beyond the door. As soon as she did, there came another surge of power that struck her.
It was almost as if the energy from the room filled her, rushing through her, and she raged with it, a buildup of power that had been suppressed the whole time she had been down in the room. Now that she was out, now that she could feel that power flowing through her, she wanted nothing more than to unleash it.
She hesitated.
It was more than just the energy from the room that she felt; it was the strange energy from the Toral ring that bubbled up within her. Jayna needed to resist that too. It seemed as if that power pushed on her, trying to get her to pay more attention to it, to unleash it. Jayna struggled against it, knowing she could not let it out; she needed to hold on to it within herself and maintain that power.