Miresh’s next task for Rattar was not as pleasant as making a flower grow. Each day she went to train, Aralim and she sat on either side of a small wooden cage. Inside sat a fat grey rat, eying them nervously. There was a cup of water and a cup of seeds for it, but it ignored them. It was as focused on Miresh as she was on it. Rattar had told her to kill the rat. To poison its health. Continue reading Aralim 22
The dry parchment pages of the tome turned as stiffly as Aralim’s blinking eyelids. He was exhausted. Three days ago, Master Rattar had observed that Miresh’s flower was growing faster than Aralim’s, which meant she was affecting it with her abilities. For two days they barely slept, and Aralim watched in amazement as the tiny stalk grew taller and sprouted leaves. It had a bud at the top, but had not yet bloomed. The third day involved a lot of sleep, and Miresh had sunken into a deep frustration at her inability to finish the task faster—likely due only to her fatigue. Continue reading Aralim 21
The new year celebrations were concluded tidily on the third day of the Moon, which surprised Aralim. When he asked Hayan about it, he was told that most of Numa’nakres celebrated the birth date of the Eternal Emperor, not the renewal of the Noress Calendar. In fact, many devout followers of the Ascendancy refused to acknowledge the fall of the distant meteor as affecting the calendar at all. Even in Trell, where Aralim hailed from, they recorded Years Since the Orrish. Continue reading Aralim 20
They met with Rattar a few days past the next week, though they had let him know halfway between that Miresh was ready for the next steps of her training. This time, the Aura brought them to speak with him in a grove of trees behind his meditation hall. The Iron Palace still seemed like it was looming directly overhead, but as the morning rain cleared, they walked past it and a handful of other buildings to the small orchard. Continue reading Aralim 19
In the sprawling streets of Rema, Aralim and his friends had been housed at one of the Eternal Emperor’s many properties. While the offered housing at Mistress Athanu’s estate might have been even more lavish, the mansion on West Corid Avenue was still a thousand times more comfortable and secure than any place Aralim or Miresh had ever slept. Instead of sleeping in hammocks or on thin cots—to avoid the dangers of insects—they had framed mattresses stuffed with feather down. Their meals were prepared by servants, and maids cleaned their laundry. At first, that had only one set of clothes, but the chamberlain of West Corid estate informed them the wardrobes were complimentary. Continue reading Aralim 18
Tiny trails of smoke rose from all around the meditation yard as Aralim and Miresh walked past half a dozen magicians to meet, at last, with Great Mage Rattar. Many of the candles or stems of incense had such a strong aroma that Aralim found his eyes watering as they walked quietly along the central walkway toward an arching kapok tree. Small silver chains dangled from its branches holding more lamps. Continue reading Aralim 17
“Your friends ought to stay here,” Athanu said, as they strode through the first orange curtain of the aura to enter the grounds of the Iron Palace. “The Emperor, if it is decided you should meet with him, will not speak with a group so large.” Continue reading Aralim 16
A storm rattled the Chapel of Peace throughout the night, but Aralim slept through most of it. He remembered waking up once, in a layered linen bunk, to listen to the pounding rain. There were no currents; the storm was not soft then hard. It was fierce the whole time, an incessant torrent. Rainwater collected in a few puddles on the floor, even though the bunks were in the basement of the small church. Continue reading Aralim 15
They had gone to the Iron Palace the day before, walking right up to a big closed gate. Overhead, the flat balcony on top of the fortress had loomed like a tower, though the buildings dimensions more resembled a cube. From there, only one face could be seen, an enormous wall of shining iron columns. Continue reading Aralim 14
Naeen led the way, through the winding streets of Rema. The city was overwhelming, but it was similar in size to Bellasa. It seemed to have begun as a small town between two sharp foothills, rocky points that jutted up out of the earth. Now the city had filled the valley, and surrounded the slopes too. Continue reading Aralim 13