Leaking ?ther is caused by a complex combination of ?ther volatility and pressure. Volatility determines the strength of the barrier between the natural world and the ?ther, and thus is directly responsible for these leaks. High volatility that involves more than one element weakens the barrier and causes fissures to form. Pressure in turn determines how fast ?ther will flow out of these fissures.

  Excerpt from 'Introduction to the Workings of Magic'

  It was late in the evening and Jolene and Maria were unwinding in their study after several busy days. The new vote had ended the vendetta as expected, and Maria had been forced to suffer the humiliating sneers from the faithful as a result.

  Nonetheless, she cared little about them as she had received words of disappointment and encouragement as well. Thanks to those few, Maria knew who she could trust to help her carry out her own vendetta regardless of official considerations.

  “This is strange,” Maria said, pensively looking at the numbers on the paper in front of her.

  “What is?” Jolene asked, looking up from a book she was reading.

  “Remember those scrying points I had set up all over the city?” Maria said.

  “Those runestones you had placed to help us find those Callium haunts?”

  “The same,” Maria said. “I've been looking at the numbers so far, and ?ther pressure has been behaving oddly since we started measuring.”

  “Weren't you supposed to remove those scrying points after the vendetta ended?” Jolene said with a raised eyebrow.

  Maria waved her hand dismissively. “I converted their presence to a personal experiment. It's merely passive information gathering, there is no harm in that.”

  “What's odd about them?” Jolene asked, closing her book.

  “Pressure has been steadily increasing. There is a clear increase on the day-by-day chart if you normalize the readings.”

  “So?” Jolene said. “You have, what, two weeks of data? That doesn't make for a good sample. It might well be a normal fluctuation. Are there days that the pressure decreased?”

  “Some,” Maria admitted.

  “Well, there you go,” Jolene said, opening her book again.

  Maria bit her lip. Jolene was right, of course. Fourteen days of data was hardly meaningful enough to draw conclusions.

  Am I overthinking things? Or just grasping at straws?

  After the vendetta had ended, she had found the time to give some more thought to the situation at the White Candle, only to find there was little information to go on. Maria knew both the Whisper and the Royal Guard had far more information than they had so far revealed. However, as long as the Daughters were suspects with regards to the attack, they weren't going to share it. For this reason, she had continued taking several of the measures she had begun during the vendetta, to see if she could find some information on her own.

  Maria sighed and leaned back in her chair. She had daringly attempted to continue the vendetta against Callium by herself, but that had proven difficult so far. Not least because Callium was keeping a very low profile ever since that Callium magister released the ghast on the city. Her scrying net had found two haunts that were confirmed as belonging to Callium, but both had been free of activity since that time.

  I wonder what really happened that night.

  Her wonder did not stem from outright disbelief. Three of Callium's own magisters conspiring together against the guild's best interests was something she could easily imagine, especially considering the prize. Despite that, Maria knew there had to be more to it. The death of two of these traitor magisters by the ghast they supposedly conjured themselves, along with the disappearance of the third one, was all too convenient for Callium itself.

  And Archmagister Yerwede claims he knew nothing about this. That's utter nonsense if I ever heard it.

  Maria took a sip of her tea. It seemed like her vendetta would have to wait for a while until the whole mess at the White Candle was resolved. Callium was unlikely to make any moves before then.

  By now it was commonly accepted that the magistrae of White Candle were gone forever. Even though there was no certainty to that end as long as the sanctum remained closed, hope that anyone was still alive inside was minimal. The remaining adepts and apprentices of White Candle had tried to keep a semblance of the guild going, but it was falling apart as more and more time went by. Several of them had already applied to other guilds, with the Daughters welcoming a handful of them only a couple of days ago.

  The mystery of it all intrigued Maria greatly. Not just the disappearance, but also the events that followed, and she was frustrated that she was merely an observer rather than a participant.

  “How long do you think the sanctum wards will last?” Maria asked.

  “Hmm?” Jolene said, without looking up. “The White Candle sanctum? If it's anything like ours, then not much longer. A week, maybe two.”

  She turned a page and looked up.

  “That doesn't leave much time,” Maria said. “I wonder when the King is planning another breach attempt.”

  “Pfff,” Jolene huffed. “At this point I don't think they're even going to bother with another attempt. There was a rumour that the King asked a guild from Galond for help, but you know how they are. They charge a hefty fee and then show up late, if at all.” Jolene wriggled her nose as if smelling something foul. “Glorified merchants instead of magistrae, that's what they are.”

  “So they'll just wait for the wards to expire?”

  “And why not?” Jolene returned. “The wards have been down briefly already, and apart from the ghast, nothing bad happened. If some of the rumours are to believed, the Callium magister who fled was actually inside the sanctum for a while. It can't have been that dangerous then.”

  “You don't know what shape he came out in,” Maria said darkly.

  Jolene shrugged. “Waiting might not be the smartest course of action, but as long as the identity of the group that attacked Callium is unknown, I can't blame King Darych for not wanting to trust anyone.”

  A smile crossed Jolene's lips. “I know you have trouble sitting still, but in this case you will have to accept it unless you're planning to invade the sanctum yourself.” She spoke the last part in a mocking tone.

  “Don't worry,” Maria said. “I'm not that eager to know.”

  There was a brief knock at the door.

  “Enter,” Maria said immediately, sitting upright. Whoever it was could perhaps provide some distraction from her musings.

  An adept stepped inside the room, holding what appeared to be a letter.

  “Excuse me, Magistra Seleny,” the adept said. “A message was delivered to you.”

  Maria raised her eyebrows as she accepted the envelope and flipped it over in her hands. There was no name on it, neither hers nor the senders. It was closed with wax, but without a seal. “Who sent this?” she asked the adept, looking directly into her eyes.

  The adept fiddled nervously with a lock of her hair. “It was delivered at the gate just now. All the courier said was that it was intended for the leader of the vendetta. So I assumed it was for you.”

  Maria frowned as she flipped the envelope over again. Why would anyone address it as such rather than to me personally? And don't they know the vendetta is over? Or has this letter been in transit a long time?

  She waved her hand at the adept. “Thank you; you're dismissed.”

  After the adept closed the door behind her, Maria opened the envelope, revealing several pages. On the first one a short passage of text was written in the clean hand of someone accustomed to writing.

  “What does it say?” Jolene asked, seeing Maria's confusion.

  “To whomever was in charge of the vendetta,” Maria read aloud. “I have a proposal that will be of interest to you. If you wish to hear this proposal, come to the Resting Sailor Inn in the Seventh District at midnight tonight. Come alone. Enclosed with this letter is some encouragement and sign of my good faith.”

  “Huh,” Jolene said. “That's peculiar.”

  Maria shook her head in disbelief. “What kind of nonsense is this? The letter is not even signed.”

  She flipped over the page to see what else had been sent. The other pages were all filled with densely written text, though in a different handwriting. It took Maria a while to go through them all.

  As she moved from one page to the next, her eyes grew wider and wider.

  “What does it say?” Jolene asked again with more urgency. “You look shocked.”

  Maria put down the last page and looked at Jolene. “I am shocked. Remember that incident at one of our runestone material suppliers last summer?”

  Jolene thought for a moment before she remembered. “At Kester's, you mean? The fire at his warehouse?”

  “Yes, that one,” Maria replied. “According to this letter, the fire wasn't an accident, but a deliberate act of sabotage by Callium.” She took a deep breath to dampen her excitement. “And not only that, it also says that some of those stored materials weren't lost in the fire at all but were stolen instead. Again by Callium.”

  “And you believe that?” Jolene asked. “Sounds more like bait to get you to go to this inn. You already suspected it was foul play back then.”

  “No, you don't understand,” Maria said hurriedly, “There are details in here that nobody could know unless they were the person who set the fire.” She picked up one of the pages. “Here, look at this. It's a detailed list of all the things they took.” She leaned over her desk to hand the page to Jolene.

  Jolene looked it over. “And these match the order manifest for that delivery?”

  “I believe they do,” Maria said, opening a drawer of her desk. “I have a copy of that manifest around here somewhere.”

  It didn't take long for Maria to find the manifest she was looking for. She quickly compared it to the list in the letter.

  “It matches,” Maria said, her heart jumping. “Not just the type of materials, but the amounts as well. They only took materials that would leave no trace if burned.” She looked at Jolene. “Do you know what this means?”

  “I can think of several things,” Jolene said. “None of them make me feel good about this.”

  Maria ignored Jolene's reservations. “It means that we finally have some proof against Callium. Some real proof.”

  “That letter doesn't prove anything,” Jolene said pointedly.

  “No, but the person who wrote this can.” Maria felt excited. Just like after the first vendetta vote, she could see the possibilities stretching out in front of her.

  Stolen story; please report.

  “You are going to go to this inn then?” Jolene asked with an expression of horror. “Do I even have to say what a bad idea that is? What if they are after you personally? Your actions these past weeks haven't exactly endeared you to a lot of people.”

  “The vendetta is over,” Maria said. “What point would there be trying to harm me? Especially considering how ineffective the whole endeavour was.”

  She was not going to be swayed by Jolene's arguments. Ever since she had boldly declared her own vendetta, she had come to realize that only a riskier approach would yield results. If she ever wanted to get her hands on some hard proof against Callium, risks like going to this meeting would have to be taken.

  “I'm going,” Maria said, determined. “I will take the necessary precautions.”

  “I'm coming with you, then,” Jolene replied with equal determination. “It's either that or I'm not letting you go at all.”

  “Fine,” Maria said, glancing at the wall clock. “It won't be long till midnight; we better get ready.”

  The Resting Sailor Inn turned out to be not nearly as shady an establishment as Maria had expected. It wasn't even in some back alley somewhere; instead it was located next to one of the main roads in the Seventh District that led east towards the harbour. From the outside, at least, the building looked clean and respectable. The paintwork was solid and the windows were clean.

  “This doesn't look so bad,” Maria said as she reached out to the door. She could hear music playing behind it.

  “Let's see what's inside first,” Jolene said, pulling her shawl tighter around her neck.

  Maria stepped inside and found herself in a large room typical of an inn. It was filled with loud, rough-looking men who were drinking, throwing dice or singing along to the music. Women who were dressed too revealingly to be anyone's wives accompanied many of them, sitting on their laps or hanging over their shoulders with their breasts almost spilling out of their bodices.

  “Not so bad, you say?” Jolene snickered softly. “This place is practically a brothel.”

  “And what might your name be?” a nearby patron asked, addressing Maria and walking towards her with a gait that betrayed his drunkenness. “You are dressed much too warmly. Take it off. Take it all off!” He laughed, revealing a set of yellow teeth, and so did his mates behind him.

  “I'm not here to see you,” Maria snapped, batting away the man's outstretched hand. “I have no need for drunks.”

  “She's a feisty one,” one of the other men said.

  “You should marry her,” another added.

  “Just keep walking,” Jolene whispered in her ear. “No point in talking to drunks. I'll take care of it.”

  “Hey, hey,” the drunk man said as they moved away. “Where are you going? You have no idea what a great guy I am.”

  Maria ignored him and kept walking fiercely, hoping he wouldn't be so stupid as to grab hold of her. That would lead to a scene for certain, and she couldn't have that right now. If word got out that two members of the Daughters of Ashira had visited some sailor inn, it wouldn't take long for the rest of the guild to find out who they were. She and Jolene had already been labelled promiscuous by several of the magistras, and she didn't need anything to fuel that opinion.

  There was a loud bang behind her, followed by more laughter. As she glanced over her shoulder she saw the man sprawled out on the floor like a rag doll and Jolene's face revealing a barely suppressed smile as she followed Maria towards the bar.

  You are such a cat, Maria thought affectionately.

  The bartender was a sober-looking man somewhere in his late forties who eyed Maria with disinterest as she approached.

  “What shall it be?” the bartender said in a tone that matched his expression.

  “I'm here to meet someone,” Maria said.

  “Everyone here is,” the bartender said, studying her for a moment. “You don't look like you're from around here.”

  “I'm not,” Maria replied.

  The bartender glanced at a nearby clock. “Well, I suppose I know who you are looking for then,” the bartender said. He gestured towards the nearby stairs. “Cellar, last room on the left.”

  The cellar turned out to be a spacious room filled with all kinds of barrels and crates, and a single hallway leading off with a handful of doors on both sides.

  “Should I knock?” Maria whispered after they arrived at the last door on the left.

  “I don't know,” Jolene whispered back. “It's not as if I'm used to doing things like this.”

  Maria knocked loudly.

  “Who is it?” a male voice called from behind the door.

  Maria stood in doubt for a moment. She wasn't keen on declaring her real name here; who knew who was listening?

  “The leader of the vendetta,” she eventually said.

  “Enter,” the voice responded.

  Maria put her hand on the door handle and took a deep breath. Here goes.

  The room was bigger than she had expected. It contained some chairs, a cupboard with no contents and a table where a single person sat. Maria stepped inside, glancing at all the walls and even looking behind the door.

  “I'm alone,” the man assured her. “And you are not,” he added with agitation in his voice when Jolene entered the room as well.

  “It's just the two of us,” Maria said quickly. “I wasn't comfortable coming here by myself. I hope that isn't a problem.”

  “Very well,” the man said, gesturing towards the chairs on the other side of the table.

  His readiness to step over the issue struck Maria as peculiar. Why make a point of having me come alone if it doesn't matter? She studied him as she sat down. He was wearing a wide hood and a scarf, leaving only his eyes visible. They're harsh eyes, Maria thought. Whoever this man is, he isn't someone who spends his time laughing.

  The man waited until they were both seated. “Your names, if you will.”

  “You first,” Maria answered.

  “My name is of no importance. Yours, however, is.”

  Maria frowned. Does he really not know my name? Is that why the letter wasn't addressed to me directly?

  “I'm Magistra Seleny,” she said. “And this is Magistra De Wilciel.”

  “Maria Seleny,” the man said, ignoring Jolene completely.

  “Yes,” Maria said, frowning. “If you knew already, why ask?”

  “I did not know which of you was her. But let's be done with the introductions and move on.” He folded his hands together. “Why are you here?”

  Befuddled, Maria glanced at Jolene. “You said in your letter you had a proposal for me.”

  “I do,” the man said. “What I meant was why did you decide to come to listen to it? Your motivation for being here, so to say.”

  Feeling confused, Maria shifted in her seat. “I want to bring down Callium,” she said after a small pause. From the corner of her eye she could see Jolene shake her head lightly, but Maria did not care. That was the truth and she would not back away from it.

  “I see,” the man said. “And what would you be willing to do to achieve that?”

  “A lot, but not everything.”

  “Does a lot include things that might be considered criminal by the Crown?”

  Maria opened her mouth to answer and then closed it again. Truthfully, she had not considered this at all, even though she now realized that waging your own personal vendetta against an entire magic guild was not going to leave you with clean hands. She also realized what the man was doing. He is trying to test my resolve.

  “It does, but only as long as it affects Callium and only Callium.”

  The man nodded. “That will suffice for the time being.”

  His eyes briefly turned towards the palm of his left hand that, Maria now saw, contained a runestone. She could see lights moving across its surface. A scrying stone? It looks like this person doesn't entirely trust us, regardless of what he says.

  “What's the proposal?” Maria asked.

  “The proposal is that I help you with achieving your desire and in exchange you do something for me.” The man spread out his hands. “It's as simple as that.”

  “My desire? You want to help me bring down Callium?”

  Maria felt wary. That sounds too good to be true.

  “Not the guild as a whole, but merely the inner circle. I can assure you that they are responsible for almost every if not all grievances committed against you.”

  “And how exactly are you going to help me do this?”

  “I have information that can help you, as you already saw.”

  “I did see,” Maria said. “But assuming that you indeed have such information, it again begs the question who you are and why you are interested in seeing Callium fall.”

  “I'm someone who also suffered grievances by the hand of the inner circle, yet the information I have is useless as long as I'm alone. Hence my request for you to come here.”

  “You dodged my question,” Maria said, looking the man straight in the eyes. “Who are you? You talk about the inner circle instead of Callium, which tells me you are a member of Callium yourself.” She retrieved the letter from one of her pockets and waved it in the air.

  “The fact that you have information like this proves that as well. No outsider could know these things. In fact, you might even be a member of the inner circle.”

  The man turned his eyes away from Maria's and reached for a flagon to pour himself a drink. The sour smell of sandwine entered her nose as he finished filling the mug.

  Was I right? Is he really one of the members of the inner circle? She tried to recall the faces of the magisters that made up Callium's leadership.

  “As long as I can help you, does it matter who I am?” he said eventually.

  This time Maria did not respond immediately. If the information this man had was legitimate and she could bring down Callium, did she really need to know who she was dealing with?

  I do not, she realized, but there was still the possibility that this entire meeting was not what it appeared to be. Maria glanced sideways at Jolene, who was inspecting a scrying stone that she was holding out of sight beneath the table. If something bad was about to happen, Jolene would notice for certain.

  Emboldened, Maria continued. “I'll admit that it does not really matter, but I would still like to know who I'm dealing with here. Considering the gravity of such an operation, I find it hard to trust a man who hides himself.”

  “That's unfortunate,” the man said, picking up the mug with sandwine only to put it back down. He had realized he could not drink without revealing the rest of his face.

  He's just as new to this as I am, Maria realized. She was now convinced that this wasn't a trap. The opportunity she had just been offered was real.

  I would be a fool to let it slip away from me.

  “Alright,” Maria said. “I don't need to know. I'm certain you have good reasons to hide yourself, but I reserve the right to back out of this agreement at any time.” She leaned forward. “How do you propose we make this happen?”

  “Nothing will happen until I'm certain you will fulfil your end of the deal,” the man replied.

  “And what is my end exactly?”

  “To make certain I maintain my status as a magister of Callium.”

  “So you admit you are a Callium magister.”

  “You already figured out as much; I see no need to hide it.”

  “You are selling out your fellow magisters?” Jolene asked, speaking up for the first time.

  The look in the man's eyes hardened as he glared at Jolene. “They are not my fellow magisters,” he snapped. “They themselves made certain of that.”

  “It's fine, Jolene,” Maria said, quickly interrupting. “The results are what matters.” She turned towards the man. “Though I have to admit I'm still uncertain what it is you want us to do for you. If you have information exposing Callium's illegal dealings, why not go to the Royal Guard directly? If you play the informant then I'm certain they would be lenient.”

  “I do not trust the Royal Guard. They would move too slowly in any case for the target that I have in mind.” Maria noticed that the man's voice gained a bitter tone as he spoke.

  “How is it different if we do it?” Maria asked. “I'm assuming you want us to expose the inner circle somehow, so what do you have in mind?”

  “We reveal the location of the White Candle spelltomes Callium stole to the Royal Guard. I need your help to make certain those tomes, and a select group of Callium individuals, are still there when they arrive.”

  Maria's eyes widened and Jolene's mouth fell open. “White Candle spelltomes?” Maria repeated hastily, almost tripping over her words. “You mean to say they already plundered the sanctum?”

  “They did,” the man said, nodding solemnly. “They were stolen the night the ghast was released upon the city.”

  “I knew it,” Maria said, raising a finger in the air and shaking it. “Callium claimed they foiled a plot by three traitors, but they knew about it from the start. They were inside the sanctum that night and took those tomes.” She lowered her hand. “But what's the reason behind the ghast, then?”

  “An unfortunate accident,” the hooded man replied. “I'm uncertain of the specifics, but the claim that it killed two Callium magisters is correct. The third one that fled the city was merely a convenient scapegoat to take all the blame.”

  Maria nodded, now seeing what the man was suggesting. If the Royal Guard finds out that Callium possesses spelltomes from White Candle, they won't be able to deny entering the sanctum.

  “Once the Royal Guard arrests all the inner circle members,” the man went on, “we can release the remaining information I possess. Without the inner circle's leadership, Callium will no longer be able to make evidence disappear fast enough, and the inner circle's fate will be sealed for certain.”

  Destroying Callium in the process, Maria thought. Does this man really believe the King will let Callium continue to exist after that? She saw no reason to voice that concern, however.

  The man continued. “My official part in this will be that I secretly made an agreement with the Daughters of Ashira to expose the inner circle. Furthermore, the reason the vendetta was dropped will be to get Callium to lower their guards. This should absolve your guild from any severe reprimands in taking hostile action outside a vendetta. Although I'm certain some creative truth-bending will be necessary regardless.”

  Maria nodded and glanced at Jolene, who shrugged in response, indicating it was Maria's decision to make.

  “I need to think about it for a moment,” Maria said.

  “Please do,” the man said, turning away from them with mug in hand. He took a deep gulp from it as he faced away from them. Maria caught a glimpse of a cleanly shaven cheek, but nothing more. She briefly considered leaning to the side to see more of his face, but decided against it. What matters is whether I believe him, and if I do, what I'm going to do about it.

  The plan, devoid of detail as it was at that moment, seemed promising enough and Maria believed the man so far. The fact that Callium had entered and looted the sanctum fell in line with all the activity she had observed during the vendetta. The only part that gave her pause was the man's identity. Who was he and why exactly was he doing this?

  I suppose finding out who he really is can wait. If he wants me to hold up my end of the deal, he will have to tell us eventually anyway.

  She nodded to herself. A chance like this would not appear again and thus her answer was clear.

  “I'll accept your proposal,” Maria said as the man put his mug back on the table, “though I will need to see the finer details of whatever plan you have in mind first. As I said before, I won't accept anything that endangers people unrelated to this.”

  The man nodded. “Very well. I will contact you at a later time, then.” He rose from his chair.

  “Wait,” Maria said. “Aren't you going to tell us now?”

  “This isn't the place for that,” the man said as he moved to the door and opened it. “I cannot stay here any longer. This was merely a meeting to confirm your cooperation. As I said, I will contact you later.”

  And with that he was gone, closing the door behind him.

  “Are you certain this is a good idea?” Jolene asked, turning to Maria with a worried look on her face.

  Maria faced Jolene. “Why? You think he's lying?”

  “Not directly, no, but I got the impression he wasn't telling us everything.”

  Maria shrugged. “Me too, but this is too good an opportunity to let slip by. If we can end Callium this way, it will be worth it.”

  “If we can,” Jolene cautioned.

  “We aren't committed yet, so don't worry,” Maria said as she rose from the table. “Let's continue this conversation elsewhere. My robe is getting wet from the damp in here.”

  “Good,” Jolene said as they moved towards the door. “I'm already glad you aren't planning on following him.”

  Maria froze. Follow him? Why didn't I think of that? She looked towards the door.

  Jolene, however, saw Maria's reaction and immediately grabbed her by the shoulder. “No, Maria, we're not going to follow him. Just coming here was risky enough. He will have taken precautions to make certain he wasn't followed.”

  “Oh, alright,” Maria said, pouting. “Let's head back to Felados Tower, then. We have some preparing to do.”