Faegan looked up at the First Wizard. “Yes, my friend,” he answered softly. “As I told you when you first entered the room-from this day onward, our world is forever changed.”
“Forgive me, Faegan,” Mallory said. “May I ask a question?”
Turning his chair toward her, the crippled wizard smiled into her eyes. “By all means, my dear,” he said.
Mallory again looked at the seemingly endless formula. A skeptical look crossed her face.
“How is it that you could read that vast formula only once, then perfectly transfer it to the visage board? To my mind that was miracle enough.”
Smiling, Faegan gave her another wink. “That has to do with a little gift I possess called Consummate Recollection,” he answered. “I’ll be happy to explain it to you sometime.”
Stepping closer to the visage board, Sister Adrian looked at the glowing formula. “Faegan,” she asked, “could you please revisit the scroll’s index? When it showed earlier, something caught my eye.”
“Of course,” he answered.
Waving one hand, he caused the long formula to scroll downward. Soon the index reappeared. Adrian walked closer. Scanning the index title, she concentrated on the last sentence. She read a portion aloud.
“‘These twenty-five facets of the craft have been left behind…’,” she quoted. When she turned around there was a knowing smile on her face.
“The scroll being divided into twenty-five ‘facets’ is no coincidence, is it?” she asked.
“Indeed not,” Faegan answered. Delighted that she had figured it out, he let go another cackle.
“Of course!” Shailiha said. “Each of the twenty-five scroll sections relate to a corresponding facet in the Paragon! They include the Casual, the Sympathetic, the Kinetic, and so on!”
“Correct!” Faegan said. “The formula for alchemy comes from Section Nineteen-the Transformations Section. Now you understand that the index’s purpose is to first identify the Forestallment’s facet as it relates to the Paragon. Then it tells us where the formula one seeks can be found on the scroll. It is complex in design. But for those understanding its workings, it is relatively simple to use. It also leads me to another conclusion.”
As Faegan sat back in his chair, it became clear that he had more to tell. Pulling on his beard, he looked up at them thoughtfully.
“I know that look,” Jessamay said. Walking over, she gazed down at him. “What haven’t you told us?” she asked softly.
“There is more to my new gift,” he answered. “Not only does my Forestallment grant me the index to the Scroll of the Vigors, but also the index to the Scroll of the Vagaries.”
The room fell dead silent. For several moments the Conclave members looked at him in awe.
“I beg the Afterlife,” Wigg breathed. Grabbing Faegan’s chair, he turned it around. “Are you sure?” he asked.
“Yes,” Faegan answered. “Just as the Ones wrote an index cataloging their Forestallments, so did the Heretics. I now command each.”
“At last!” Shailiha said eagerly. “We are finally on an even footing with those who would use the Vagaries Forestallments against us! We can choose our gifts, just as our enemies do, then use the Vigors calculations against them!”
Faegan wheeled over to the princess. “Your Highness, as tempting as your conclusion might seem, it is not valid,” he said sadly.
Shailiha was crestfallen. “I don’t understand,” she protested. “We have the Scroll, and we have the index! Why can’t we fight fire with fire?”
“Because despite this wealth of new information, we still do not know how to place Forestallments into blood signatures,” Jessamay answered. “But I find it difficult to believe that the Ones would create this vast index, only to mistakenly omit the very information that makes the formulas usable.”
Then she suddenly grasped the answer. She looked at Faegan. “You know, don’t you?” she asked. “When they created the scroll, the Ones did not forget.”
“No,” Faegan answered, “they didn’t. Do you really believe that such inordinately intelligent beings would make such an obvious mistake? I don’t.”
“What are your two talking about?” Wigg demanded.
“Don’t you see?” Jessamay answered. “The instructions for imbuing a Forestallment into one’s blood were at one time indeed written on the Vigors scroll-in the area that was destroyed! Until we can somehow acquire that secret, our scroll-despite Faegan being granted its index-still has little use for us.”
Their hopes dashed, the Conclave members regarded one another sadly. It seems that for every two steps forward regarding the craft, we must always take a step backward, Shailiha thought. Still, she believed that there had to be a way.
“How do we go about finding this information?” Shailiha asked. “Surely beings as wise as the Ones would have created a duplicate scroll.”
“Not necessarily,” Faegan answered. “They did not do so with the Tome or the Paragon. Worse, our world is an exceedingly large place. Much has yet to be explored. If they did produce a duplicate scroll then hid it, the odds are that it will never be found. Remember-we found the Caves, the Tome, and the Paragon quite by accident.”
An astonished look came over Abbey. “It all makes perfect sense,” she breathed.
Walking over to the herbmistress, Wigg took her by the shoulders. There was a faraway look in her eyes. “What is it?” he asked.
“Don’t you see?” Abbey asked back. “Think back to that night on the palace roof when Wulfgar was defeated the first time. The scroll was partly destroyed. The Ones knew that-they were watching. Once they were finally able to commune with Tristan, they told him that he must recover the other scroll!”
“I don’t understand,” Wigg said. “Surely the Ones know that we would never use the Vagaries Forestallments!”
Impressed by Abbey’s reasoning, Faegan wheeled his chair closer. He looked up into Wigg’s face.
“She’s right,” he said. “But you misunderstand her meaning. It isn’t the Vagaries Forestallment formulas that the Ones wish us to possess-it’s the information that goes along with them! Just as we assumed that the information was once written on our scroll, it must be written on the other one, as well!”
Suddenly Wigg understood. “The spell allowing Forestallments’ embodiment into endowed blood,” he breathed. “It must be the same for both craft sides!”
“Precisely!” Faegan exclaimed. “If we can take the other scroll, so much will become possible! Just imagine- every Vigors Forestallment finally ours to command! Our power will increase exponentially!”
“Even so, one question remains,” Wigg said seriously. “Why would a Vagaries servant like Xanthus imbue your blood signature with both scroll indexes? It makes no sense! Surely he must know what a help they will be to us!”
“Equally intriguing is his reason for choosing Faegan,” Jessamay added. “Why him, and not another endowed Conclave member? We were all present at the masquerade ball.”
“The answer to your second question is simple,” Faegan said. “He chose me because I alone possess Consummate Recollection. After having read the entire Vigors scroll, I will be able to call from memory first the index, then any formula I choose-all without needing the scroll in my presence. The advantages would be astounding.”
But as quickly as Faegan’s face came alight with joy, his expression darkened. He looked with concern at the other Conclave members.
“There is of course another possibility,” he added, his gravelly voice trailing away again.
“What is that?” Shailiha asked.
“Xanthus’ unexpected gift to me could be nothing more than a cleverly designed trap,” Faegan mused.
“How so?” Adrian asked.
“By granting me the indexes, Xanthus has dangled a tantalizing prize before us-one that he knows we cannot afford to ignore,” Faegan answered. “Our seduction is even more enticing, given that the Ones ordered Tristan to take the other scroll. Suppose Serena has tainted the information in the Vagaries scroll, for example. Or perhaps the entire scroll we secure from the Citadel is some ingenious, spell-ridden forgery, designed to somehow harm us the moment we unlock its secrets! Remember, Krassus tried to do that very thing when he supplied us with but one small vellum corner taken from the Vagaries scroll. Just imagine what the entire document could do!”
