Magic and Mayhem by Nicole Kimberling

Author:Nicole Kimberling
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: LGBTQ, Essays, Fiction, Anthology
Publisher: Old Growth Northwest
Published: 2016-09-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Five

Zal batted branches out of his way as he stomped off through the woods. He couldn’t deny he was running away like a coward, but he also couldn’t deny he was beginning to doubt his own convictions. His training and his knowledge of the laws screamed that Torian was a rogue mage—a practitioner of unknown power who used illegal spells of coercion, depriving citizens of proper choice.

But with everything Torian had told him about their life in that Sun-forsaken Lab, about the star-born Infomancers, about the origins of this world, his world, Zal’s doubts grew.

Why did this world not have a story of its beginnings? Wasn’t it human nature to wonder, to find answers, even if the answers were pure guesswork and total shite? Had the star-born, these originators, somehow prevented them from even asking the questions? With what they’d done to poor Torian—Zal had seen the mess of metal glinting on their back and shoulders when they’d thought he was off gathering wood—who knew what the arrogant arseholes were capable of?

Zal began to doubt everything he’d ever learned. For instance, whether he should turn Torian over to the tribunal at all. Would they take the time to hear what Torian had to say?

Shite, that song, all about reaping what you sow. It had squeezed Zal’s heart enough to make it weep. If someone were to sit in judgment on him, on the Congress of Mages and Seigneurs, on all the sun-born and earth-born inhabitants of the world, would they be found lacking?

Zal needed clarity, and for that, he needed to cast the divination stones, see the paths before him. Make his own bloody choice.

He broke out of the tree cover onto a plateau that overlooked the river. The gibbous moon rode high over the mountains and the tattered remains of the earlier clouds didn’t obscure the stars. He drove his staff into the earth amid the frost-killed grass and sat, cross-legged, the staff at his back. He pulled out the worn square of leather with its four lines—peace, prosperity, principles, partnership—and spread it on the ground in front of him.

Had this come from the Infomancers too? Had they imposed rules on the world so deeply and subtly that no citizen had ever suspected they all danced to someone else’s tune?

Can’t think like that. Didn’t matter anyway. His spells worked. His connection to the Sun was real, palpable, useful. So to blazes with the Infomancers. I refuse to let them choose my path for me.

Zal pulled the pouch on its leather thong from under his shirt and shook the divination stones into his palm. Still warm from his skin, they shone in the combined light from his Sun Stone and the moon.

“You’ve always spoken true for me. I have faith you’ll do so now. What must I do with the moon-born?”

He closed his eye and selected the opal by touch, its surface smooth and cooler than the others. “Moon for peace.” He tossed it toward the divination mat, heard the soft spat as it landed.

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