Eva tried again. She used another looping of smoke, a burst of power that flowed from her, swirling around, and she glared at him. “Why are you here?”
“You don’t even know,” he said. His voice had a strange, harsh quality, but for the first time, there wasn’t the same edge to it.
Did he recognize Eva—or only her power?
Eva continued to squeeze her power in, constricting it around him, but he just accepted it, ignoring the pressure tightening around him.
“He can provide answers,” Jayna said softly. That mattered as much as anything, especially for her friend. Jayna continued pushing out with the smoke she had summoned off of Asaran, using that to maintain her hold. “Not just for you, but for both of us. He knows something.”
Eva looked back at her. “He’s been killing sorcerers.”
“He has,” another voice said.
Jayna turned and found a dark-haired woman approaching.
She had seen her before. It took a moment for Jayna to remember where.
“You were at Telluminder’s shop.”
The woman nodded. “I was.”
Jayna knew she was missing something. There was something here she didn’t fully understand.
“Are you trying to instigate the fight between the Sorcerers’ Society and the dular?” Jayna asked.
The woman cocked her head to the side, frowning at Jayna. “Instigate it? Why, we are the ones trying to stop it.”
23
Jayna stood in place for a moment, trying to figure out how to react. They were here for information. Answers and nothing more.
“Explain yourself,” she said, holding on to additional power and trying to remain prepared for another outburst. It wasn’t just the Ashara she had to be concerned about. She recognized that was only a part of it. She also needed to be wary of the others around her. She had no idea if they were dular but given that they all had various enchantments pointed at her, Jayna suspected that was exactly what they were.
“We have been trying to settle the conflict,” the woman said. She glanced from Jayna to Eva, and she frowned as she watched the smoke swirling from Eva.
“Someone has been attempting to instigate it though,” Jayna said.
“Instigate?”
“They have been using dular and their enchantments—ones that are similar to Ashara magic. What I don’t understand is why.” She turned to Asaran. “You attacked at the outpost.”
“He attacked because it was necessary,” the woman said.
Jayna flicked her gaze over to the woman before turning it back to Asaran. “Why was it necessary?” When the woman started to speak, she shook her head. “I want him to answer.” Jayna glared at him. “And don’t pretend like you can’t. I’ve heard you talk. I know you can. And I know you are keeping something from me. You attacked us in the street, you attacked us when we went to Raollet’s shop, and you—”
“You should not have been there,” Asaran said. “He's been selling secrets.”
Jayna cocked her head to the side. “Has he, now? What secrets are they? Secrets about the Ashara? Or could it be about the El’aras who founded the city? Or maybe it’s secrets about these places.” She swept her gaze around the room, continuing to call smoke off and pushing outward. She had to pull the smoke through the bloodstone first, but at that point, she had managed to push enough of it back out that it surrounded the room and created a protective buffer.
“Yes,” he said.
“Why do you even care?” Jayna asked.
The woman stepped up next to Asaran. “As you must have surmised, we are the Guild of the Insurn.”
Jayna grinned at her. “Why might I have surmised that?”
The woman frowned and stared at Jayna. “You didn’t know?”
Her reaction made it difficult for Jayna to decide if she had hired Matthew.
What if she hadn’t?
“Then you didn’t have anything to do with the bloodstone?” Jayna asked, glancing behind her shoulder briefly before turning back.
“That is what they used,” the woman said, breathing out.
“What who used?” Jayna asked.
“The Society. Or the one manipulating them. They used the bloodstone to make it look as if the Ashara had attacked.”
Jayna wasn’t sure if that quite made sense. Bloodstone certainly could be enchanted. She had seen it more than she cared to, and given what Eva had claimed about the bloodstone, and how she thought it had something to do with her own power, there was a very real possibility that it was similar to Ashara magic. It would certainly make it easy enough to look that way.
But the enchantments she had seen inside of Raollet’s shop had looked different.
Unless they were nothing more than a canister housing the bloodstone.
“Why would the Ashara have come?” Jayna looked to Asaran.
“Your question leads to a dangerous answer,” the woman said.
“I’m a dangerous person,” Jayna said.
The woman regarded her for a moment, and a hint of a smile played on her lips. “Perhaps. But I wonder if you could truly understand. There have been attacks in the city. We have attempted to intervene, but we have not been fast enough. I fear that if we do not intervene this time, the Society will find themselves in a very dangerous situation.”
Jayna glanced over to Eva. “You mean they’ll find themselves having to deal with the Celebrants of Asymorn and the Order of Norej.”
The woman frowned at her. “How is it that you know this?”
“I sort of stopped both attacks.”
“But you have neglected the greater attack. One that is more insidious.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“The reason we have requested the assistance of the Ashara.”
“And what is that?” She looked over to Asaran. “From what I’ve seen, he’s attacked at least one sorcerer in the city and infiltrated the outpost, where he decided to try to slaughter all of the sorcerers before I intervened.”
“Not all,” Asaran said. “Only those who served him.”
Jayna just blinked. “This is because of Sarenoth?” A murmuring came from around her. Jayna looked at the others. The smoke in the room made it difficult to see them. “Don’t tell me. You’re afraid of his name.”
“Speaking it gives him power,” the woman said.
“I doubt it.” That wasn’t how any sort of magic worked. None that she’d learned, anyway. It was superstition, nothing more. “Anyway, why attack the sorcerers?”
“Because the one who leads them serves him,” the woman said.
“You mean Agnew? The old healer isn’t dangerous.” Not that dangerous, she didn’t think.
The woman cocked her head, frowning at Jayna. “The one who leads is an ancient sorcerer by the name of Dorian Hale, a powerful servant of chaos.”
Jayna started to smile, but Eva stiffened. “You recognize that name?” Jayna asked.
“I remember something . . .” Eva shook her head. “I don’t even know why.”
“Char told me he hasn’t been in Nelar long. He only got assigned here . . .” Jayna realized she didn’t know when. “Anyway, he’s a healer,” Jayna said, turning back to the woman.