Kingdom of Scourge and Shadow (The Sightstone Series #1)

Chapter Fifteen: Judith

"The Church will probably brand me a heretic for what I have seen, but I must recount it, for I know it is more important than anything else I might say. I know not what the connection between the Sightstones and the Lightbringer is. I will leave that for the theologians and the priests to ponder. I know only that we are wrong about the Sightstones. There are not six, as the Church claims. There are twelve. And now I will tell you of how I came to possess this information."

-from the Codices of Saint Caroline the Heretic

***

 Judith stepped through the door and into a dark, cozy room. After the bright hallway, it took her eyes a moment to adjust, and she blinked in the shadowy gloom until her vision came into focus. Then, she found herself gaping at her surroundings like a country bumpkin who had just seen a city for the first time.

She found herself in what could only be General Stark's office, but, if it was an office, it wasn't like any she'd ever seen before. It was dimly lit, the wide windows along the far wall shrouded by heavy drapes. A cheerful fire burned in a massive hearth, casting a dancing glow across the room, and a single lamp burned on the edge of the desk in the middle of the room, illuminating the general's workspace.

Bookshelves lined one wall, stuffed to bursting with what had to be hundreds of books. Judith squinted at them, but many bore titles in scripts she couldn't read, and she didn't recognize any of the ones in Caedish.

The walls were papered with beautiful silver damask, printed with dark blue and gold irises and vines. Richly-colored Araiyan rugs lined the floor, and Saroviyan-style tapestries hung from the walls, side-by-side with Shan prints and beautiful Rjikean oil paintings. To Judith's surprise, a Ki'we weaving hung above the fireplace, not so very different from the one Judith had hung above her bed.

General Stark sat at her desk, a glass pen in her hand, fully absorbed by whatever she was writing. She had, at some point since the assembly, donned a dark blue robe embroidered in blue, silver, gold and copper. Judith knew from the stories that she, and all the other descendants of Saint Elaine, the first witch to fight for the crown, possessed the unique ability to control all elements–water, air, earth, even fire.

Judith's gaze traveled along the desk taking in the collection of what looked like knicknacks scattered across it. At the edge of her desk, next to her writing set, was a vase of sunflowers. For some reason, the sight of them took Judith by surprise. She would have thought sunflowers were too cheerful for someone as intense as the general.

Next to the vase was a Ki'we carving of a thunderbird, which shouldn't have been a surprise after the hanging. Judith wondered what connection the general could have to the Ki'we that would lead them to give her a carving of a sacred animal and a weaving for warding off bad thoughts.

Then, her gaze was caught by a strange object on the other side of the desk. A chunk of what looked like a blue gemstone of some sort, its rough-hewn facets seemed to catch the light. Roughly the size of a man's fist, it was shot through with streaks of silver, gold and amber. Something seemed to swirl in its depths, and Judith couldn't resist stepping closer for a better look.

She'd never seen anything like it before.

"It's called a Sightstone," the general said, without looking up. Judith started guiltily and quickly took a step back.

"What is it for?" Judith found herself asking, still half-entranced by the shadowy swirls deep within the stone's core.

"Haven't you read the Scriptures?" the general asked, though, to Judith's surprise, there was no criticism or judgement in her voice. "The Spiritiy Sanctiy? Saint Caroline's Codices?"