An extra-thick page followed Princess Karin’s note in the Book of Karit. Serenity frowned as he turned it; it looked like it ought to be a bunch of pages stuck together, but he couldn’t open it. He could think of four possible reasons for that off the top of his head; the least likely was that it was simply a really, really thick page.

The next was that it was somehow unlocked by being someone who “should” be able to write in the Book. The fact that there were no blank pages after Princess Karin’s note supported this option; Serenity didn’t know why blank pages would be hidden, but it was possible. It seemed likely there was something more there than blank pages, but there was a good chance it wasn’t important if it was locked behind being listed in the Book. It might have something to do with ruling Karit or the reason the Book existed in the first place, whatever that was.

The third option was the most likely in Serenity’s opinion: that it was the spell Karin created that used the power of the Book to kill Lykandeon. He didn’t know what she did, but locking away pages had a similarity to tying up power in a spell. It wasn’t the same, but it was similar and it was directly after her note.

The last option was almost the direct opposite of the third: that the pages were somehow forced to become a single page by backlash from Princess Karin’s spell when it failed. Lykandeon was alive, after all.

The only option he could really test was if someone of the correct bloodline could open the pages; Ekari was in the Book, after all. The problem with that test was that if it was one of the other options, even touching the Book might be dangerous to her because she wasn’t immune to Death magic.

Serenity had checked to be certain there were no traps other than the Death energy, but he hadn’t actually looked at what the Death energy would do to someone who wasn’t immune. It was easy enough to find out; it was Death energy, after all.

Serenity didn’t have to examine the energy for long to know that it would target anyone, including the original spellcaster. Ekari might be able to unlock the stuck pages, but they’d attack her. It wasn’t worth it.

Serenity wanted to investigate further but the only route he had left was to learn the spellform of the spell he wanted to bypass well enough to break in. He could do that, but after reading as much of Karit’s history as he had, it was getting late. For all that he knew Rourke would cover for him if he stayed later than was reasonable, it would be better to leave and come back to examine the spell later.

Serenity flipped to the surrender agreement and read it instead. It was short and to the point: Lykandeon promised not to kill the people of Karit. In exchange, the royalty of Karit gave up their claim to the land in Lykandeon’s favor and vowed not to lead a rebellion against the Eternal Church or Lykandeon. It was signed by both Princess Karin and Lykandeon.

Serenity reread the clauses. Whoever did the negotiating for Karit was clever and knew how magical contracts worked; on the surface, it was a surrender agreement but in the long run it actually bound Lykandeon far more than it bound anyone from Karit other than Karit’s royalty. If Lykandeon directly killed anyone recorded in the Book of Karit, he would break the agreement; on the other hand, a royal of Karit could participate in rebellion as long as they did not lead.

The land claim was probably what Lykandeon was truly after. In many countries, the land was owned by the ruler; everyone else there was simply permitted to live there, often at the cost of an annual rent of some sort. The right to live on and use property could still be sold in some cases, but the land itself could not be.

There were a number of reasons for this, but the one that mattered right now was that ownership brought rights. There were several possibilities, but with what Serenity had seen of Lyka, the simplest and most straightforward was the most likely: Lykandeon wanted to be the Planetary Sovereign and that meant he needed to “own” the planet. It wasn’t the only way to become Sovereign, obviously, but it was one that would always work.

In many ways, Lykandeon still got the better part of the deal since he got what he wanted. He probably didn’t really care about the rest; it was entirely plausible that that was why he let the tricky clauses through. Serenity thought that was foolish, but he wasn’t going to argue about foolishness that was in his favor.

Serenity would be back; he had two or three spells to understand more completely. The ritual that created the Tower was probably to control the Death spell on the Book of Karit, but Serenity wanted to confirm that. He also wanted to understand the Death spell itself and know what was behind the stuck pages of the Book.

The last day of preparation was spent at the Water Gardens. Serenity now knew why High Priestess Karin had sent him to the Tower of Broken Swords, but so far all he knew about the Water Gardens was that they were completely cleansed of any Death affinity and they were closed off during eclipses. The presence of Death magic in the Book of Karit made the deathlessness of the Water Gardens more interesting but didn’t explain anything.

Naturally, Serenity and Rissa ended up playing Hide and Seek for hours. It was the perfect excuse to fully search the Water Gardens. It also was a lot of fun; Serenity truly enjoyed being able to really stretch himself and run. He usually prevented himself from moving at his full speed outside of combat because very few people could keep up with him; it simply wasn’t polite.

As games went, it was a pretext rather than an actual game; both Serenity and Rissa had a decent idea of where the other person was and how far away they were without having to actually see them. Neither of them really felt like actually hiding from the other. Instead, they made sure to vary how long it took to find the other each time. The true game was making it look like they were playing Hide and Seek when they weren’t.

By the time they finished and stopped to soak in some of the pools, having sent the acolytes away, Serenity had a fairly complete map of the entire Water Gardens. He also had an entirely new question, because one particular pool of water near the center of the Water Gardens had a strong magical attunement to blood and a slight attunement to Life even though it was filled with water and Serenity could find no source for either attunement.

At least, not until Serenity decided to look at the entire map he’d created.

The pools in the Water Gardens were set up in a ritual pattern. The runes themselves were missing, but the pools were clearly located where runes should be, and Serenity recognized the interlocked circles the streams made immediately.

Serenity took a deep breath, then dove into the pool. He followed the bottom of the pool towards the middle until he found what had to be there. Set innocuously into the floor of the pool was a slightly different color of rock that made a clear rune.

It was in a runic language Serenity recognized but despised for its imprecision. Spells tended to have side effects when they were cast with runes that didn’t have closely linked meanings, and this language was particularly bad about linking multiple disparate meanings to a rune and making you figure out which one it was from context.

The rune Serenity was looking at meant parent, water, tree, conviction, ice, falsehood, cloth, or trap depending on how it was used. He added it to the map. It was a good thing they had time; quietly collecting all of the runes so that he could figure out what was going on in the Water Gardens without arousing attention by diving into all of the pools in sequence was going to take some time.

Fortunately, they had time. They had until the next eclipse, and that was still a good period of time away. They had a hundred and eleven days.

Serenity watched through Ita’s spell as “High Priestess Karin” interviewed Varandaeon. The part of the High Priestess was being played by her daughter, with the help of a spell from Ita to make them look and sound identical; the actual High Priestess had no idea anything was happening.

Serenity couldn’t tell Ekari from her mother once Ita cast her spell. It was uncomfortable; Serenity didn’t like it when his senses lied to him. In this case, he knew it wasn’t actually his senses lying, but that didn’t really make it any better. The spell actually altered Ekari’s appearance and clothing through the connections she had with her mother to match Karin.

Ita was pleased with how well the spell worked; Ekari said it made her “feel itchy”. Serenity could sympathize with both of them.

The important thing was that Varandaeon didn’t seem to realize anything at all was wrong.

Ekari was surprisingly good at the interrogation business, at least with a cooperating victim. She was able to make it seem like she knew the overarching details and reasons why the people from Earth were being relocated to Lyka and simply wanted the details on how the relocation was progressing.

Serenity actually laughed when Acolyte Varandaeon asked “High Priestess Karin” what “the glowing rock test” was for; Serenity recognized the “glowing rock” as the rock that tried to pretend to be Gaia he’d found in Djen’s secret office. He was going to have to remember to tell Ekari about that rock after the “interview” was over; he couldn’t remember if he’d mentioned it or not.

Ekari’s answer was simple. “It allows us to recognize people with a particular talent. That’s why they’re being separated from the others. Now, I’m not here to answer your questions; you’re here to answer mine. Please continue.”

Ekari managed to sound like she knew all about it without saying anything that wasn’t implied by the question.

In the end, Acolyte Varandaeon’s information was exactly what they needed for the approximately four thousand people who didn’t react strongly to the “glowing rock”. He was able to tell Ekari that those the rock glowed for, a few hundred people, were all sent to Aeon.

When Ekari pressed him for more information, he admitted that he knew the Priest that always escorted them to Aeon; she was a cousin of his named Alanaeon.

Serenity heard a gasp from beside him; Rourke had looked up from the pad where he was recording the interview and was starting at the spell. “You know Priest Alanaeon?”

Rourke nodded reluctantly. “Unfortunately. Priest-Thaumaturge Alanaeon is very good at what she does but very uncaring of the cost. I’ve investigated her several times and each time I’ve been able to show that she is expensive but not disloyal. She isn’t exactly happy with me; the last time, I found that her death numbers were higher than she’d been reporting. High enough that the area she was located had become a taboo area. She had to move and start being more careful with her test subjects; I doubt she’s forgotten.”

She needed test subjects? Specifically, she needed test subjects that caused a reaction from a rock that tried to imitate Gaia? Serenity had a bad feeling about that. “Did she by any chance move to a large complex hidden under the surface of Lyka? I’m not certain how large it is, but it may cover the entirety of Abiding, possibly more.”

“Yes, it was decided that that was a large enough location. How did you know?” Rourke seemed puzzled, but Serenity wasn’t about to explain Rissa’s ability.

Serenity shrugged instead and left that out of the answer. “Lyka’s World Core is angry. I thought it might be related because of the rocks.”