Aww, she thought I might be an assassin? That’s kind of flattering, I suppose. “That makes sense. I suppose a message directing you to go to the tower while the tower is inescapable would be somewhat suspect.”
“Precisely. There are a few possible scenarios we’re entertaining. None of them are pretty. Fortunately, it’s unlikely that everyone inside will be... purged. If that were necessary, whoever sealed the tower would have also made it impossible to enter. Thus, it’s more likely this is a security measure to prevent someone specific from leaving.”
I took a deep breath as I considered how to respond. “I think I have an idea about who that might be.”
She raised an eyebrow.
“So, when I was in the tower, I ran into a few other people—”
The eyebrow lifted higher.
“—and yes, I remember the experience. I’m not sure why. Maybe the Voice helped?”
“No need to speculate on that at the moment. Please, continue.”
“Well, I found a few people and ended up making my way through some of the chambers with them. One of them was a swordsman named Keras—”
Her focus intensified at the name. I tried not to stumble over my words.
“—who ended up fighting with — and I’m fairly confident when I say this — Katashi, the Visage of Valor.”
“Katashi was there? Interesting. Continue.”
Really, that’s your only comment?
“Without getting into too much detail, I fled the fight along with the other two. I mean, one of them was unconscious, but Vera, a woman from... Caelford, I think? Maybe? She helped me carry the unconscious boy. Then she betrayed me and took the kid, running off on her own. Not really clear on why.”
“And the Voice interceded on your behalf?”
“Not physically, he just told me a route to take to get out. Then, when I got there, he told me to contact you. Oh, and he gave me the sword.”
Professor Orden looked stymied by that. “He... appeared to you? In person?”
I shook my head. “Oh, I suppose it probably wasn’t really him. Just a floating robe. Like, a simulacrum, maybe?”
She took a deep breath. “Ah, of course. Yes, that makes more sense. Did he tell you anything else?”
I paused, considering. I was being deliberately vague, of course, but I needed to tell her anything that could get me more information. I didn’t trust her enough to reveal anything that would make me look bad. “He indicated that there was something he needed to do quickly, and that I needed to leave the tower fast. I suppose that was referring to sealing the tower off. Could he do that?”
“Perhaps.”
“At the time, I assumed he was going to go intercede in the battle between Keras and Katashi.”
She raised a hand to her forehead. “Unlikely, but perhaps through indirect means. I take it that means you did not see how the battle concluded, then?”
I shrugged. “No. But it’s a foregone conclusion, right? Katashi is a visage, they—”
“I wouldn’t make too many assumptions when it comes to Keras Selyrian.”
Selyrian? I’d never heard that surname before. “Who is he?”
“A dangerous heretic. He’s appeared in several cities, given speeches against the goddess’ doctrine, and disappeared. The common theory is that he is an agent of the Tyrant in Gold, possibly one of his children.”
Oh, lovely, I may have just let a malevolent demigod out of prison.
I rubbed my forehead. “Do you think that’s likely to be true?”
Orden shook her head. “He’s certainly powerful, but I can’t say if that’s accurate. There are other possibilities. He could be one of Wydd’s forms, for example.”
I nodded at that. Wydd was the Visage of Forbidden Knowledge and she — or he, depending on the day — was known to take on many forms. There were stories of her conflicting with other visages in the past, but I hadn’t heard any that involved direct combat. “Do you think Keras is the reason the tower was sealed?”
She shifted her hand, drumming her fingers on the chair. “That is an excellent question. Knowing that Keras is involved certainly puts the whole situation in a different light. It’s possible he’s responsible. I’ll have to consider it and investigate further. You’re welcome to research him yourself, but don’t make it your primary focus.”
Orden paused, eyes pensive. “You said the woman with him was named Vera, and sounded Caelish?”
I thought back to when I’d met Vera and her interactions with the other prisoners. “Yeah, but I don’t think they were working together. She fled just the same as I did when the battle started.”
“Interesting.”
“And you mentioned a young boy. Another applicant, like yourself?”
“Not sure. He had even darker skin than Vera, so he was probably Caelish, too. He looked too young to be taking a Judgment and he had an unusual mark on his forehead. It was large for an attunement. It looked more like a tattoo.”
“That could be nothing; tattoos are much more common in Caelford. But you’re right that it’s unusual enough to note. If nothing else, it should be possible to find out if a young Caelfordian with a forehead tattoo entered through the Door of Judgment recently.”
“Do people from Caelford take their Judgments at a younger age than we do?”
She shook her head. “No, but people from Edria take them at twelve or thirteen. It’s possible he’s from Edria and simply had a Caelish complexion.”
True enough. It was easy to assume someone’s region of birth based on their skin tone, but there were people of all nationalities living everywhere these days.
“Were you serious when you mentioned that there could be agents of a visage coming after me, or was that just to inspire me to prepare?”
Orden cracked her knuckles. “Both. You must understand that part of the influence of the visages comes from the belief that they are infallible. You witnessed a visage fight someone — not destroy someone, not execute someone, fight them — and you escaped after seeing it.”