As she treated both Rorelan and Tomas in the Crystal Palace, Layla, a skilled healer, said their sickness wasn't natural. When Layla spoke of poison Ella looked down at the ground, unable to meet Amber's eyes as the healer said there was little she could do to help.
Miro dispatched a messenger to Evrin Evenstar, but it would be weeks before the fastest courier could return. No one seriously suspected Evrin, but perhaps he could shed light on the strange blast and even deadlier poison.
With so many mysterious phenomena at hand, and no answers to be found, Ella buried herself in the libraries of the Academy of Enchanters.
~
FOUR DAYS passed and Ella had found little to go on. She strode through the Great Court, heading from the Melton Library to the Wrenright Library, her footsteps quick and the sandstone buildings on either side passing her in a blur. She thought about what she knew, so preoccupied she almost ran into a centurion tree, stumbling and walking around it at the last instant.
Ella was quite sure the device utilised a chemical explosive of some kind, which explained why the divination wand hadn't found anything, yet she had never heard of a people with such knowledge of the physical world, easily surpassing the masters of the Academy.
The makers of the device could harness strange forces, combining their explosive with a precision timer and a deadly poison. If someone, anyone, had encountered such mastery of the elements, there was no better place to look than the Academy of Enchanters.
Ella kept running the events of the wedding day through her mind. She didn't know how she'd felt something was wrong, but she'd learned to trust her intuition and this time she hadn't listened. She was terrified of facing Miro and Amber and telling them she'd had a premonition and hadn't said anything.
Looming over the expansive court, the Green Tower was a dark square against the night sky, blotting out the stars. Ella didn't bother reading the glowing hands on the great timepiece. She knew it was late.
In the very centre of the Great Court stood a tall marble statue, newly erected after the war. Given prominence over all the other statues spotting the Academy, this woman had been someone important indeed.
The carved woman wore a hooded dress decorated with a myriad of tiny symbols, although the runes were an artist's interpretation and not the real thing. Her hair was long and straight, flowing to her waist, and in the starlight it didn't take Ella much effort to picture the way it had been, shining silver.
Ella found herself in front of the statue. She looked down and took a deep breath, before gazing up at the face of Evora Guinestor, the late High Enchantress.
"Evora, you always knew what to do. There's something buried in these books that tells me what I need to know. Please, show me the way. You always said perhaps we focussed too much on lore and too little on the physical world. Please, where should I look?"
"I hope she answers you," a voice came from behind Ella.
Layla looked haggard.
"There's nothing I can do," the Dunfolk healer said.
"How… How are they?"
"The man and the child; they're both comatose. All I can do is stabilise them, make sure their bodies continue to receive sustenance. Internally, their bodies slowly fail them. The fluids they expel are tinged with red. I hold little hope."
Ella put her hand to her mouth. "How… How long?"
"The big one, the High Lord, his condition has deteriorated more swiftly. Still, I cannot say. The High Lord can hold on for a few weeks. Not long. The child is more stable, but I do not expect him to wake."
"Lord of the Sky," Ella whispered. "Thank… Thank you, Layla. For trying." She took a deep breath. "Has anyone learned anything new about the attack?"
"They say there was no lore involved, but none know of anything that can create such destruction. The device also projected a powerful poison." Layla shrugged.
"There must be something here to explain it," Ella said, looking out over the buildings of the Academy.
"Yet the wisest of your people do not know the answer. Perhaps you are searching too close to things you already know. Perhaps you need to look farther, to where mysteries still remain."
"What are you saying?" Ella thought about the libraries she'd been searching. She'd been lost in all the treatises on lore, daunted by the volume of information on the peoples of the Tingaran Empire. Should she shift her focus?
"Also, there are those who say you should be with your brother and your friend right now."
Ella sighed. "I have to try. Something here could help them... Tell me, Layla, what do you believe?"
Layla met Ella's gaze. "I trust you, Ella. You are my friend. And I think you might be the only hope of saving that child."
~
IT WAS some hours before dawn as Miro walked the corridors of the Academy, looking for his sister.