Chapter 20
REMNANTS OF THE WAR
Niri closed Laith Lus’s journal, a finger marking the page. She placed her other hand across her eyes. Her fingers trembled against her forehead. When she looked up it was into the stone-blue pools of the elder’s eyes.
“I told you what you found would not be to your best hopes,” he said.
“Yes, but you are the only person I know who actually saw the war. I need to learn what happened.”
Laith Lus shook his head. “I was a boy, younger than Beite, when war came. I did not understand everything then, and when we closed our borders, I never had a chance to learn more. There is much I still do not know.”
“But you saw the Temple of Mist fall.”
Laith Lus held Niri’s gaze. “Yes, that much I saw. The Temple’s lands border the Forest of Falin. I went and watched to be sure the battle did not cross into Kith lands. That fight came later.”
Laith Lus’s face was tired and held old pain. Niri reached over and squeezed his forearm. He smiled sadly at her.
“I do not think this gives you more information than you had. Just more questions.”
Niri’s lips twisted with unhappy agreement. She opened her mouth to ask another question, but a soft knock sounded on the door to the elder’s house where it sat nestled beneath a sentinel tree of the great clearing.
Laith Lus stood and left her at his desk amid a pile of books. To her surprise, she heard Lavinia’s voice
“I don’t mean to interrupt, but I think I’m missing something.”
Laith Lus chuckled as he led Lavinia to another seat. “You’ve misplaced something?” His tone was serious, but Niri heard a teasing undercurrent in his voice.
Lavinia looked fretful, but it wasn’t the same worry that clouded her eyes when she asked about Ty. She sat on the edge of her seat, leaning forward as if ready to take flight. “No, there is something I don’t understa ... oh.” She paused when she realized Laith Lus was laughing silently.
Lavinia sat back with a sigh and took in Niri with her hand still in a book. “We were looking for you and Laith Lus yesterday, Darag and I.” Lavinia’s voice hitched on Darag’s name and she blinked quickly. “We were supposed to look for you today, but I haven’t seen Darag all morning.”
“Harrumph.” Laith Lus stood up with a frown. He scuttled over to his firebox, messing about with pots for a moment. “Tea, children?” he asked kindly, but his eyes remained disappointed.
“Yes, please,” Niri answered for both of them. “Why were you looking for us?”
Lavinia tapped the armrest with her index finger. “We were talking. I was telling Darag about how we came here, and about Ria. He wondered if Laith Lus had heard of powers like Ria’s.”
“I have,” Laith Lus answered, handing Lavinia and Niri steaming cups. “They are what started the war.”
Lavinia sat up. “How? Is that why the Church hunts them down?”
“Yes, that is the short of it,” Niri said, sadly.
Laith Lus spoke in a low voice. “There were always Elementals and there has always been, that I know of, four Orders. Each Order had its own temple and tended its own business. Then over nine hundred years ago, one Order thought about the strength they would have if the Orders came together and created a Church of the Four Orders. Not everyone agreed. There was arguing, stalling. The Orders were very proud. But then, something happened to begin to unite them.”
Lavinia sat wide-eyed, her cup forgotten in her hand. “What happened?”
“The Temple of Stone was destroyed,” Niri said for Laith Lus.
Lavinia swallowed. “I’ve never head of the Temple of Stone.”
“It is called the Temple of Dust now, child, for it is lost to the Great Desert of Ak’Ashanti.”
“Where we are headed.” Lavinia’s voice faded in dawning awe. “Who attacked it? People with magic?”
Niri shifted uncomfortably. “Supposedly. It isn’t clear.”
Laith Lus sighed. “It is so very far away. I was young and traveling along the Archipelago when it happened. The Elementals, calling themselves Priests by then, said it was attacked and felled by those with magic, mages who were not Elementals but some sort of unnatural deviation. They called for the remaining Orders to join them as one Church to stand and fight.
But there were rumors that the very Priests who asked for unity were the ones that caused the Temple to fall.”
Lavinia’s face was pale, her lip curled as though she might be ill. “Which Order was it?” she asked.
“The Order of Fire,” Niri said without inflection.
Lavinia trembled slightly. “Your friend, wasn't he?”
“I know.” Niri said, staring into the depths of the floor.
Laith Lus leaned forward and touched Niri's shoulder. “Drink your tea, child.” Both Lavinia and Niri took automatic sips.
“The next Temple to fall was the Temple of Mist, now the frozen Temple of Ice to the northwest of Lus na Sithchaine. I saw that happen, but even then was not sure who attacked. There was fire and shaking, strange events inside and out of the Temple. I have only known a few who held magic. I do not know what they are capable of, in truth. I only know that the Temple fell, freezing overnight to eternal winter. That left only two Temples standing: Fire and Wind.”
“The Order of Fire wanted them to join, so it was the Temple of Wind against the other three?”
“Yes,” Laith Lus answered Lavinia’s question. “It was destroyed as well, but I never heard the how of it. I had come back to Lus na Sithchaine by then. After the last Temple fell, the Church came here demanding we join as part of the Order of Earth. We refused.” His expression was grim. “The battle lasted for months, but now the Church does not come here.”
The fire contained in Laith Lus’s stone box crackled and hissed. He raised an eyebrow at it, breaking the grim tension in the room.
Niri sighed. “You asked if I was going to the Temple of Ice when we came. I almost would, to see where it was that my Order once lived.” A wistful pain twined around her breast.
Laith Lus spoke gently but firmly. “I have heard of the library once held in the Temple of Stone. The records there predate the war. Before the war, I had never heard of this Curse. Your best chance to help Ria is to go there. It was why you came and so you must continue on.”
Niri nodded, leaning back in her chair. She chewed the inside of her mouth absently, wondering about Ria and Sinika, the Church, and the ancient war.
“You said you were looking for something, child?” Laith Lus asked Lavinia.
She blushed, pressing her palms together between her thighs and not meeting his gaze. He chuckled at her sudden discomfort. Niri had never seen Lavinia so flustered for words.
“If you don’t mind,” Niri said, “I would borrow this book a while longer and take it out to read under the trees.”
Laith Lus barely glanced at her as he nodded permission.
Niri gathered the yellowed journal. All but the beginning was written in the language of trade that Laith Lus had learned while traveling as a youth when the borders of the Forest were more open. He had forced himself to write in it to master the language, and so he had. Niri admired him more and more with every page she read.
Book carefully bundled under her arm, she showed herself out. Lavinia had gone to Laith Lus for advice, not her. Niri liked the young woman, but appreciated the difference. Though curiosity pulled her to stay. Laith Lus had told her that Darag was teaching Lavinia to use a sword. She wondered what nights were like in Lus na Sithchaine. So many questions arose that Niri could have kept Lavinia talking until nightfall. Which, by the look on Lavinia’s face, was not what she was after at the moment.
I’ll have the boat and crossing to the Southern Shore. This is Lavinia’s time now, Niri assured herself. As she walked the stone path away from Laith Lus’s house, she heard Lavinia’s voice distantly.
“I have some questions about the ways of the Kith.”