The Thirteenth Month by Elizabeth Hunter

Author:Elizabeth Hunter [Hunter, Elizabeth]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781959590163
Publisher: Elizabeth Hunter

They were in Narine’s office, and two more messages had come through.

“…nothing in the archives here. It’s like the Nomad movement never happened.” Noura and Omar were twin travelers from Jeddah. “Two of our elders in Mecca have vanished.”

“Not vanished from the timeline,” Omar clarified, “but they’re ordinary mages with no particular authority.”

“We heard that something happened during Pagume. Let us know if you have any ideas. We’re trying not to panic.” Noura ended the call.

The second message was from Ander, a traveler from the Pyrenees in France. “…heard from Cyril that he’d contacted you. Don’t know what’s going on. Only my father and I have registered the change. Our local council is oblivious.”

“It’s spreading,” Tadesse said. “The effects of the warp are spreading. We have to speak to the elders tomorrow.”

Narine shook her head. “I say we jump first and find out what happened.”

“This needs to be organized. If this massacre was so pivotal, the elders would want to help.”

“Unless…” She didn’t even want to think it, but it had to be said. “Unless the elders are the ones who planned it.”

Tadesse’s mouth dropped open. “How? Why?”

They had the door closed, but they still kept their voices low. “Tade, we both have the same memories. For now we remember them. Noura and Omar, Cyril. Ander and his father. The travelers remember the free mages, but for the rest of the Seba Segel, this massacre is all they know.”

“So because the Southern Mages were killed, none of the rest of the free-clan movements happened?”

“They were the model all over the world. Free mages not associated with old houses banding together to gain power in the order? No one had ever done it before them. They were the reason the Rhone Valley Mages formed, that the Nomad movement in the Middle East happened. Think of every group of free-mage clans around the world, and you can trace their formation to the success of the Southern Mages.”

“Not all of them. In the Americas—”

“Different history, different system,” Narine said. “We both know that the power of the Seba Segel in Africa, Europe, and Asia has always rested in the old families.”

“Until the Southern Mages.” Tadesse stroked his beard. “If someone went back to wipe them out, their entire motive could have been to destroy the free-clan movement from the beginning.”

“The free-clan movement was powerful in 2071, but in 1934?” Narine shook her head. “It was a thought. An idea. Not even a well-formed one at that.”

“So you think the elders of the old houses—our elders—were behind this massacre? You think they altered that tasary?” Tadesse grimaced.

“Someone altered it, Tadesse, and it had to be a traveler. We have to find out who is behind this and what their goal is. Was it the massacre or was that just an unseen side effect? We can’t fix the Tibeb, not without going back to Pagume in 1934—”

“Which would be committing one crime to fix another.” Tadesse wiped a hand over his face. “The best we can do now is try to fix the massacre that resulted from the warp.

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