Abaddon's Call

Chapter Eighteen

Graydon was formally summoned by the lords.

He expected the summons, having attended just such a summons before, though on the other end of things. When a boy completed his proofing, he was called before the lords and heirs. It was a time of recognition. One of the only times a boy would enter that secret place, that unthought-about place.

The first time he had entered following his grandfather along as he shouted at Graydon's father, screamed at him. They came to blows even.

That was before his grandfather stopped leaving the estate, one of the last trips out. His grandfather had wanted to show him the consequence of action. Graydon learned nothing that day, but looking back, he was beginning to understand there was a lesson there. He had been young and could not recall what happened, who won the fight. He couldn't remember how he got home or pinpoint when the event happened.

Normally he could.

There were consequences to actions.

Just not the sort his grandfather tried to teach him about.

Being commanded to bring Naena to that place was a surprise, though he understood the why once he received the message.

In that place, he was permitted to ask one yes or no question. Those with shields were required by tradition to ask if their shield might harm the Seven.

It was a tradition that had saved more than one. Upon the question being asked, lords reacted as they might choose but never had a shield marked as safe caused a problem. The real issue was that shields that could harm the Seven could also keep the shield families in line.

Such as Jasor Salord, who still needed a handler, and Trathor who was still alive and active thanks to the lords.

Graydon didn't give a damn what the scales said.

If anything, he hoped they said she could harm the Seven. He wanted to see the looks on their faces as they saw that answer. He wanted to know who he could trust.

His mother had prepared garments for Naena to wear. Naena had sighed over it, but the outfit was made to her sizing and involved replicating the mage robes she wore to classes. The robes were done up to show off her loyalty to Pan, her blood as Salord, and her place as a shield.

It was a beautiful set of clothing, but he knew Naena would never thank his mother for the effort she had put in.

"Does she think of nothing but satin and hues?" Naena muttered.

"Behave," Graydon hissed back.

She gave him a vicious look but said not a word more.

They went to that secret place, and she said not a thing.

Graydon only knew of it as that secret place, mages called it by the term the Seven used for it, but it was an old language that simply meant 'that secret place.' No one had ever explained the place to him. No one ever told him what any of it meant.

He suspected the walls were lined with books, though there appeared only to be an outstretched overhang hovering above a mist that glowed faintly red. The colouring below, he was sure, was from his father sitting Lord of the Seven. It spoke of the command that Pan held over the Council.

An outcropping of dragonstone stretched from an archway and into the middle of the chamber, where it spread out. There were no railings, though the platform had several shorter bookshelves, some with books and some without. In the middle of the platform stood a birdbath. It looked exactly like the birdbaths in his mother's garden and very well may have been originally from just such a garden.