Spellwright by Blake Charlton

Author:Blake Charlton
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Fantasy - General, Murder, Magic, Fantasy, Fantasy fiction, Disabilities, Fiction - Fantasy, General, Incantations, Wizards, Epic, Fiction, Science Fiction And Fantasy
ISBN: 9780765317278
Publisher: Macmillan
Published: 2010-09-15T10:09:06.657000+00:00

SHANNON LET OUT a long, relieved breath. Amadi began shouting and rough hands grabbed his shoulders and turned him around. The room was ablaze with censoring texts. There must have been seven sentinels in the room.

“Amadi,” he said coolly, “I hope you can justify this breach of law and custom.”

“Magister,” she replied from somewhere to his left, “I’m afraid I can.”

He looked in her direction. “And how is that?”

She told him about the bookworm infection and the private library filled with incriminating manuscripts. She then explained about a wounded construct that had been trying to return to his quarters.

“You think I would be foolish enough to write a curse that would return to my own quarters?” he asked incredulously.

A different voice responded. It took a moment for Shannon to recognize it as Kale’s. “The chances of the bookworm being wounded in just that way—losing its ability to subtextualize and its homing protocol—are very slight. You could have safely assumed you would never be identified. But unfortunately, Magister, chance conspired against you.”

Shannon snorted. “Or the true villain has fooled you into accusing me of his crimes.”

Amadi responded dryly. “We’ve searched your quarters more thoroughly than before. We swept the room for subtexts.”

Kale spoke. “We found a subtextualized chest strapped to your ceiling. It holds a fortune in Spirish gold.”

For a moment Shannon could not understand what he was hearing. How could the golem have gotten that much coin into his room? The thing couldn’t spellwrite within Starhaven’s walls.

“So who was it, Magister?” Kale asked. “What Spirish noble was paying you to disrupt this convocation and why?”

“Amadi, you’re making a grave error,” Shannon said hoarsely.

His former student let a moment pass before replying. “Did you know that Nora Finn was also taking bribes from a Spirish noble?”

He nodded. “I read of it in her journal.”

“Why did you not tell me?” Amadi asked.

Shannon scowled. “Because I was more concerned with convincing you of the true villain’s existence.”

Amadi let another silent moment pass. “Or perhaps you were glad to be free of a competing spy. Tell me, Magister, how did the Spirish gold come to be in your quarters?”

“It was put there.”

“By your clay monster? Impossible. As I told you: I had a sentinel watching your quarters. What’s more, all the doors and windows were warded and then protected by robust, bisecting texts. Even if your monster did sneak past my guards, the thing would have been cut in half at the waist. It would have had to hide the chest and escape with half a body.”

Shannon’s blind eyes widened. A clay golem could do just such a thing. “Amadi!” he blurted. “The thing must have done its spellwriting in the Bolide Garden and then used prewritten texts to sneak in and hide the chest. Search the surrounding area. Somewhere you’ll find a deposit of clay.”

“Magister,” Amadi said in a low tone, “the Bolide Gardens are being renovated. Do you want me to slop through all that mud for a lump of clay that looks like a monster?”

Shannon took a deep breath.

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