The Emperor's Mirror by Emily Holloway & Amanda Crowe

Author:Emily Holloway & Amanda Crowe [Holloway, Emily & Crowe, Amanda]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781312351028
Publisher: Lulu.com
Published: 2017-07-15T21:00:00+00:00

* * *

Tallis and Sienna spent a frustrating day trying to track the chest, with very little success. After the first hour, Sienna ventured the opinion that whoever had stolen it had made every effort to hide his or her tracks. Since the thief could Gate, there was no way to follow any trail he had made. The chest itself should have been easier to track, but one locator spell after another failed, no matter how hard either of them tried.

“So, we know he got out of the forest with it,” Sienna said, upon finding the exact spot where the Gate had been formed. “Bravo, us.”

Tallis moaned in reply.

“And naturally, if he can Gate, which he clearly can, then he could be anywhere in the world by now.” Sienna sat down heavily on a nearby tree stump. “Barring the Elder’s paranoia about the new religion, we haven’t even the foggiest notion where to start.”

“Are we allowed to give up a case as a lost cause?” Tallis asked, flopping down on his back and looking up at the stars.

“I very much doubt it,” Sienna said tartly. “Although it’s quite tempting to say that the Elder hasn’t told us everything and beg off that way.”

“I wouldn’t anyway,” Tallis said with a sigh.

“No,” Sienna agreed. “Nor I. This is important, much more important than I first thought.”

Tallis opened one eye and peered over at her, though he could barely see her in the dim light. “I thought you weren’t religious.”

“I’m not,” she said. “However, although the gods may be hypothetical, the Emperor is not. He existed, and there is a great deal of evidence to support both his existence and the magical power of the Regalia. If that chest did indeed contain the Mirror, we can’t let it fall into just anybody’s hands.”

“I hope it’s been sold for money; then it might turn up,” Tallis said. “I don’t know why anyone would steal the Regalia for any other purpose. No one except the Imperial family could use it, and the Imperial family is dead.”

“I know that, but with the Imperial family dead and the Regalia left without an owner, it could possibly be bent to someone else’s will.”

Tallis shook his head.

“You and the Elder might not want to believe that,” Sienna said evenly. “And I’m not saying it’s true. But someone else might believe that it could be done, and that might lead to them stealing it. This is all theoretical, anyway; we don’t really have anything other than theories to go on. For that matter, the objects would be so imbued with magical power that it’s possible someone might be trying to siphon the raw power out of them, bypassing the question of ownership completely.”

Tallis let his head thunk into the tree behind him. “This is a nightmare,” he said.

“I wouldn’t go that far,” Sienna said. “We need to put out feelers into the black market now that we know exactly what we’re looking for. I’ve more contacts there than you have, I expect, so I’ll be writing birds half the night.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.