Chapter 15 #2
Stepping onto the road behind them, Mystia followed along, keeping close enough so her magic signature merged with theirs.
She held her breath as a guard approached one of the adults, asking to see each visitor’s identification card.
It was the moment of truth: Would the cloak conceal everything, including her magic, as Oracle had assured her?
One by one the names were called, verified, and crossed off the master list in the guard’s hand after which he gave the signal to open the gates, letting the group pass through onto the grounds.
Once inside, Mystia silently exhaled as she parted ways with them; her destination was not theirs.
Heading to the back of the structure, she searched for the back entry, usually left unguarded.
Once when she questioned Brady about it, he told her it allowed members to leave surreptitiously without a guard recording the time they left.
Locating it, she smiled at finding it as she hoped it would be.
Shaking her head slightly at the deviousness of the Council’s members, she pulled open the door, then slipped inside.
Slowly gliding down the dimly lit hallway, Mystia noted the changes made since she was last there.
Stopping for a moment, her fingers touched one of the new locks on several of the doors.
Just as she suspected, it was protected with strong magic.
As much as she wanted to see what was hidden inside, the risk was too great without knowing what other spells might have been cast to keep prying eyes out.
Continuing on, she ascended the stairs at the end of the hallway, taking her up to the next level where the offices of several members of the Witches’ Council were located.
Navigating carefully, she avoided several small groups of anxious magic users waiting for an audience with the head of the Council, whose office she needed access to.
Standing to the side of the door, Mystia waited for it to open to admit the next sycophant.
~/~/~/~/~
Reading through the long list of names Brady gave him, Zane asked, “Which ones would most likely be involved with the plot to harm my brother and Remy?”
“Well, this one for sure,” Brady said, pointing to a name.
“Zohar Stone…hmmm.” Turning to his keyboard, Zane quickly typed in the name, and started the search.
“Anyone else?” asked Dylon. “Or does he work alone?”
“Not on something of this magnitude,” Brady murmured, “but he’d have to be very careful when enlisting co-conspirators.”
“Why? I’d thought everyone on the Council would be in on it,” said Dylon, “especially since the laws pertaining to the low-magic users were passed unanimously.”
“That’s a reasonable assumption,” Brady said. “However, passing a law is far different than plotting to kill the leader of the magic realm. You’ll find the stomach to do that is restricted to only a few who have the most to lose by Remy remaining in that position.”
Handing the list back to Brady, Zane said, “Circle the ones I should focus on first…other than the leader of the Witches’ Council.”
“Okay, but as I told Dylon, I doubt there’ll be anything to find.” Picking up a pencil, Brady slowly went down the names, thinking about each before making a decision. When he got to the end of the list, five names were circled.
Taking the list from Brady, Dylon began reading. “Thayer White…why did you pick him?”
“These are just my guesses. Please understand I could be totally wrong since it’s been many years since I had any dealings with these magic users,” Brady explained.
“I know that, but I doubt they’ve suddenly changed,” Dylon said.
“Right…Thayer and this one…Niam Graves…were early supporters of Zohar’s plan to identify and register low-level magic users at birth.”
“Supporters? In what way?” asked Dylon.
“Maybe supporters isn’t the right word…more like fanatical followers,” Brady said. “Zohar, Thayer, and Niam believed low-level magic users were part of the mystic realm for one reason only…to serve the ones who were born with top level magic.”
“How many levels are there?” asked Zane.
“Four, including the low-level,” Brady answered.
“Why only the top level?” asked Zane. “I’d think the other two would feel pissed off they weren’t included.”
“Oh, they were very angry. Zohar finally gave in and included the first three levels of magic users in order to gain the support he needed to pass the laws. But in the end he achieved what he originally wanted, because a substantial fee was levied on any magic user who indentured a low-level user and with very few exceptions, only first level magic users could afford it.”
“You gotta be kidding me,” Zane sputtered. “Weren’t there any objections to that?”
“Not that I know of. At first I couldn’t understand why, but finally concluded the second and third tiers didn’t care about the price; only that they’d also have equal rights to buy a slave if they wanted to,” Brady said, bitterness resonating in his voice.
After a moment of stunned silence, Zane shook his head in disbelief. Then, glancing at Dylon, said, “Well, let’s get on with it.”