Prophecy. If that were so, then the fate of all human language would be in jeopardy.
“Did you know Magistra Finn?” Amadi asked.
Shannon started. “I’m sorry?”
“Did you know Finn?” Amadi repeated patiently.
Shannon nodded. “Nora and I both took care of the Drum Tower ’s students. As the Drum Tower ’s master, I see to our students’ residential matters. As the dean, Nora governed their academics. But these students don’t often study. I end up counseling the few who do advance to lesser wizards. Nora had little contact with them. Nora and I were both being considered for the same Chair. Rivals for it, I suppose.”
“Go on.”
Shannon paused. He dared not share more information with Amadi until he was certain of her allegiances.
So he did what academics do best: he threw his hands in the air and began to whine. “This couldn’t come at a worse time, what with the convocation. How can the murderer be caught when everything’s in chaos? And my poor research! I can’t stop it now; I just sent a message to my apprentice.”
Amadi exhaled slowly. “As I said, we hope the investigation will not disrupt the convocation.”
“We? Amadi, shouldn’t the provost’s officers be conducting this investigation?”
She cleared her throat. “Provost Montserrat himself instructed me to lead this investigation.”
Shannon fingered the buttons on his sleeves. “Why should the provost appoint an Astrophell wizard to lead a Starhaven investigation?”
“I carry a letter of recommendation from the arch-chancellor.”
“I don’t doubt your qualification,” he said, though he did doubt her intentions.
Amadi continued, “We must conceal this investigation from the delegates. They won’t be inclined to renew the treaties if they think a murderer is-”
“Yes, Amadi, as you said. But why come to me? No doubt the provost’s officers could have told you about the Spindle Bridge.”
A creaking came from Amadi’s chair once more. “Do you have a familiar?”
“I already told you that I do.”
“I would like to see the creature.”
Shannon nodded. “Certainly. She’ll soon return from delivering a message to my apprentice. But Amadi, you’re investigating a murder; why do you want to see my familiar?”
A long silence stretched out between them. At last the sentinel spoke in a low, controlled tone: “Because you are our primary suspect.”
CHAPTER Five
The figure robed in white jumped back nearly five feet and crouched.
The speed with which it moved shocked Nicodemus. He was about to cry out when it stood and lowered its cowl to reveal a woman’s tan face.
Her wide eyes gleamed green even in the bleaching white moonlight. Her smooth olive skin and narrow chin resembled those of a twenty-year-old girl, yet she held these youthful features in a calm expression of mature confidence. The waves of her raven hair spilled down around her face to disappear under her pale cloak.
To Nicodemus, she seemed oddly familiar.
“What is the meaning of this?” the woman asked sternly. “I am Deirdre, an independent emissary from the druids of Dral. I was told I had license throughout the fastness during the convocation.”
“Your pardon, Magistra Deirdre. I didn’t know you were a druid.” He bowed.
“Do not call me Magistra. Druids hold no titles.” Her voice was calm, but her eyes flicked up and down Nicodemus like flames lapping at a dry log. She walked toward him. “Are you a wizard?”
To her right, the air shimmered. A warm blush spread across Nicodemus’s cheeks. “Hoping to become one soon,” he replied.
“An apprentice, then. Who is your mentor?”
“Magister Shannon, the well-known linguist.”
The druid seemed to consider this. “I have only recently become aware of Shannon.”
Nicodemus nodded and then smiled. If he could impress this woman, it might help Shannon ’s status in the convocation. It was a small thing, but perhaps then Magister would sooner forget the misspelled gargoyle.
“May I assist you?” Nicodemus asked the druid and then bowed to the shadow on the druid’s right. “Or your companion?”
Deirdre’s full lips rose into a sly half-smile. She examined Nicodemus, then nodded. “Forgive the subtext,” she said. “Kyran is my protector.”
The shadow beside her welled up out of the ground and coalesced into a human figure whose cloaking subtext fell away, causing the moonlight to shimmer.
Nicodemus nodded to the newcomer. Standing several inches over six feet, the man cut an imposing figure. He had undone the wooden buttons running down his white sleeves to better expose his muscular arms for spellwriting. His complexion was fair, his lips thin, his long hair golden. No wrinkles creased his handsome face; however, among spellwrights, that was not necessarily an indication of youth.
In his right hand, Kyran held a thick oak staff. Nicodemus eyed the object; supposedly the druid’s higher languages gained special abilities when cast into wood.
Deirdre was gazing about the Stone Court. “We wish to make devotions to our goddess. A wizard told us there were standing stones here, but these rocks are arranged neither in circle nor grid.”
A nearby crocodile-like gargoyle crawled away, perhaps to find a quieter sleeping spot.
“And you wizards have covered the stones with these strange stone lizards.”
Nicodemus bowed. “Please excuse the disorder. The standing stones were a gift from a Highland lord. We do not know how they should be arranged. As for the gargoyles, they’re not lizards but advanced spells we call textual constructs. You see, Magnus, one of the wizardly high languages, can transform its textual energy into stone.”
The druid smiled slightly as if he had just said something amusing.
Unsure what to do, Nicodemus offered more information: “These are janitorial gargoyles. We’ve written an affection for stone into their minds. So they climb all over the occupied towers, tending to the roofs, searching for crumbling mortar, and keeping the birds away.”
Deirdre continued to watch him in smiling silence.
“But if you want to make devotions,” Nicodemus added awkwardly, “you might feel more comfortable in one of our gardens. Magister Shannon has just taken quarters above the Bolide Garden, but it’s still being renovated.”
The male druid spoke. “Why is this place so empty? Where are the other wizards?”
Nicodemus smiled; here was a question he could answer authoritatively. “We’re all present. Starhaven only seems empty because it is so large. Once it housed sixty thousand Chthonic people. Now only four thousand wizards and half as many students live here. We are still exploring the uninhabited Chthonic Quarter. There is much to learn. The Neosolar Empire, the Kingdom of Spires, and the Kingdom of Lorn all occupied Starhaven. Each settlement left a distinctive mark on-”
Deirdre interrupted. “What is your name?”
Nicodemus froze. Had he been talking too much? “Nicodemus Weal,” he said, bowing.
“Tell me of your parentage.”
“My parents?” This was unexpected. Had he offended? “I a-am the bastard son of the late Lord Severn, a minor noble of northern Spires.”
The druid nodded. “Your family provides for you still?”
“N-no. Wizards abjure all ties to family and kingdom when they become neophytes. And my younger brother, the new Lord Severn, sees me as something of a threat.”
“What of your mother?”
“I never knew her.”
“A bastard who doesn’t know his mother?” She raised a disbelieving eyebrow.
“One year my father returned from a pilgrimage to Mount Spires with my infant self in his arms. He never spoke
