“It was a mana-infused flayer too,” Devol added and drew the attention of all present, “Jazai said it might have eaten a powerful magi or something. Honestly, it took a fair amount of work to kill it.”
“Is this true?” the dryad asked and looked at Freki, who nodded. The old scholar tapped his chin in amusement. “So not only an alpha flayer but an awoken one as well?”
“Awoken?” Devol asked and glanced at the apprentice. “Do you care to translate?”
“It’s merely the designation they give to beasts and critters that can access mana,” Jazai replied. “Like I said, every living thing has mana but it doesn’t mean it can use it well or even use it at all. Animals, in particular, aren’t exactly known for it outside a handful of creatures in the Osiris and Soel kingdoms. The idea is if they do find a way to access mana, even in rather unfortunate ways, they’ve ‘awakened’ to it.”
“It’s typically not a wonderful thing, given that the most well-known method to achieve this is by devouring a mana-user as your flayer friend did,” Vaust added and seemed thoughtful as if he sifted through his memories. “Although I do recall coming across an awoken stag once in my travels in Britana. I don’t know how that happened, but it could bloom flowers in its wake.”
“It sounds enchantin’,” Wulfsun commented and stroked his beard. “I didn’t think that would make an impression on ya. Doesn’t Avadon have loads of awoken beasties?”
“Oh, certainly,” Vaust replied with a smirk. “They are nasty little creatures, especially those that eat the purps and flowers we use to make our enchanted wine.” He held his gourd up with a smile as he popped the top. “It leaves less for me and it’s also why we keep our forests to a minimum outside the Scarred Valley.”
“Moving on,” Zier interrupted grumpily and turned to the grand mistress. “I suppose we should show a little more faith in our protégés—as you have, Madame Nauru. If we had made a bet, we would all have to pay.”
Wulfsun coughed as he slid his hand into his satchel and handed two cobalt shards to the mistress. “Speaking of…”
The dryad’s eyes narrowed. “How do you keep any cobalt for yourself?”
“I win some bets. I’m not a complete idiot.” The man snorted as he folded his large arms.
Before the scholar could retort, his gaze returned to Nauru. “Wait—you bet with him?”
“I don’t recall,” she replied and frowned at the shards. “I think it might be the fact that I simply didn’t say no.”
Wulfsun shrugged and held a hand out. “I’d be happy to take those back, madame, so you don’t need to fret about taking part in such a nasty habit as gamblin’.”
Nauru looked at the shards for a moment before she tucked them slowly into her sleeves. “No, it is quite all right, Captain. I’ll simply consider this your tithe.”
The Templar’s brow furrowed in confusion. “Tithe? Are we a parish now?”
“You’ve lived here your entire life, Wulfsun. You should know she’s playing you,” Vaust chided teasingly and took a sip from his gourd. “Although I suppose I could also be wrong. If that is the case, I should be more concerned. I take pride in my ability to speak blasphemy quite fluently.”
Devol approached his friends as the others continued to make jokes and snide remarks at each other’s expense, with the exception of Nauru. The swordsman folded his arms as he watched the display. “So I assume this means it isn’t that much of an emergency?”
“Huh? No, this is fairly common.” Jazai flipped through his tome before he sighed and shut it. “Their animas are up. Anyway, even in dire situations, they are likely to joke and such. You have to be comfortable with a little gallows humor around here.”
“I think the only situation that would truly get them riled up would be if someone knocked our gates down,” Asla added and pursed her lips in thought. “Although maybe that is not a guarantee either. They might find it amusing.”
Nauru looked at the young magi and nodded to them in sympathy before she held a hand up to silence the others in the room. “You can continue your little squabbles another time, gentlemen,” she stated and folded her hands into her sleeves. “We should return to the matter at hand but first, with the completion of their mission, the young ones should now know what could potentially lie in store for them.”
Freki and Wulfsun shifted uncomfortably, Zier locked eyes with Jazai, and Vaust merely glanced at them as he took another sip. All three youngsters felt an odd chill at the sudden shift in the mood in the room
“Is something fatal involved?” Devol asked when no one seemed inclined to speak.
“Potentially,” Zier responded and drew an angry stare from Wulfsun and growl from Freki before Nauru held her hand out to stop them.
“This seems rather a jump,” Jazai stated and studied the faces of the elder Templars. “You don’t trust us to do a mission alone but now you are putting us in a situation that could potentially end our lives?”
“Well, the mission you completed could have ended that way,” Nauru pointed out and took several steps forward toward them. “And you need not worry about this now, young magi, but with your completion of this mission—one with a red mark—you have now completed two missions that can qualify you for a challenge that can potentially open not only this world to you, but almost all the realms.”
While some of what she had said flew right over Devol’s head, her last statement certainly caught his attention. “What do you mean, madame?”
She paused and looked up at her garden again. “You all have your reasons for being here in the order. Not all by choice, necessarily, and perhaps a couple of you are not completely sure where your road will lead. With that in mind, we have been testing
