Fists of Justice (Schooled in Magic #12)

“A priest would normally be here, whatever happened,” Sienna said. “And there are no wards to bar our way.”

She led the way further into the temple. Emily glanced around, taking in the rough stone statues and the layers of rock embedded within the walls. She knew nothing about the temple’s precepts, but she had to admit its priests had crafted a remarkable building. Water flowed down the side of the stairs as they walked up, pooling in a silver pond at the exact center of the temple. Sienna didn’t seem to find it out of the ordinary. Emily decided it must be part of the design.

A cold breeze blew across the roof when they reached the top and stepped into the open air. Emily shivered, looking north. A dozen ships were making their way through the Gap and heading out onto the open sea, so desperate to leave that their skippers ran the risk of a collision. She had no idea what would happen if two sailing boats collided, given the currents flowing around the jagged rocks, but she doubted it would be pleasant. And yet, staying in the city might not be pleasant either…

Sienna held up a hand to keep Emily from walking further onto the roof. “No footprints. That dust has been here for years.”

Emily wasn’t so sure. The breeze wasn’t that strong, but it should have kept a layer of dust from forming. And the rain would have washed the dust away…a thought struck her and she looked around, already knowing what she would find. A handful of runes had been carved into the stone, directing the wind and rain away from the temple. The breeze…

“There shouldn’t be a breeze,” she said. “But there is…”

Sienna followed her gaze. “Well spotted,” she said. She shot Emily a brilliant smile. “The magic has failed.”

She knelt beside the nearest rune. “It’s dead,” she said, running her fingers over the carving. “Not weakened…it’s dead. No charge of magic at all.”

Emily shook her head in disbelief. Subtle magic runes drew mana from the environment, slowly building up their power. It was what made them so dangerous. The magic was so hard to detect – it might as well be part of the background noise – that the effects were rarely questioned until it was far too late. And yet, Sienna was right. The runes had no magic charge at all.

“They’re intact,” she said. “Right?”

“Right,” Sienna agreed, grimly. “What does that mean?”

Someone hit the reset button, Emily thought. Could a magician have drained the charge…?

She reached out with her senses, carefully. She’d always been more sensitive to background magic than many of her friends, if only because it wasn’t as natural as breathing to her. If there was any magic on Earth, it was well hidden. She’d certainly never believed magic existed until she’d first set foot on the Nameless World. And yet…

“I can’t feel magic,” she said. “It wasn’t just the runes. The entire area has been drained.”

“Impossible.” Sienna held out a hand, palm upwards. A spark of light danced over her fingertips, then faded. “I’ve never seen anything like this.”

Emily frowned, taking a step forward. It felt as if something was subtly wrong, as if…she tried to put it into words, but failed. It wasn’t the presence of something…more like a shift in the world itself. And yet…

The forest near Whitehall – past Whitehall – had been glowing with magic. It had affected her, she recalled, the surges of raw magic toying with her emotions. She couldn’t help a pang of guilt as she remembered kissing Robin…she ruthlessly pushed the thought out of her mind. She hadn’t been in her right mind. Present Whitehall’s forest wasn’t anything like as infused with magic. Tapping the nexus point had clearly allowed the background mana to fall to a more normal level.

But here…here, something had drained the magic completely.

She looked up at Sienna. “Can someone drain a rune of power?”

“I don’t think so,” Sienna said. “They certainly wouldn’t get very much power.”

Emily nodded. It wasn’t power that made undiscovered runes dangerous. She had no idea how long the runes had protected the temple, but they couldn’t have gathered enough mana to make absorbing the energy worth someone’s while…

“No footprints,” Sienna said. “Vesperian could have levitated himself to the edge and fallen…”

“Maybe whatever kept our spells from saving him also drained his magic,” Emily said. “If he had magic.”

“He didn’t,” Sienna said. “But he could have easily afforded something that would have let him fly.”

“Unless it failed,” Emily said. “There was something up here, wasn’t there?”

She scowled. She’d been disappointed, at first, when she’d discovered that witches and wizards didn’t fly on broomsticks. It wasn’t as if making flying brooms was difficult. And then she’d found out how easy it would be to knock someone off a broomstick. Even basic levitation could be dangerous if someone wanted the flyer dead.

“I sensed something,” Sienna agreed. “But it was probably someone concealing their presence.”

Emily shrugged. “Was Marian the only person who thought she saw Justice?”

Sienna rounded on her. “Gods do not walk the streets, Emily. And people who say otherwise are lying.”

She jabbed a finger towards a building at the bottom of Temple Row. “That temple was founded by a fisherman who claimed to have seen a god at the bottom of the ocean. Right now, countless fishermen go there to pray and leave tributes every day before setting sail. And you know what? Some of those fishermen have never come home!”

Emily held herself steady. “You think it’s a con?”

“I don’t know what he saw,” Sienna said. “Or even if he saw anything. But you’d think that a god of the oceans could protect his worshippers, wouldn’t you?”

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