The Arkanist

Chapter Fifteen: The Road Ahead

Chapter Fifteen: The Road Ahead

I did not get far before I ran into an unexpected face. I had made it to the Hall of Lords, draped in its ominous darkness, alone and empty, holding a certain forgotten power, when I saw Aryl through the shadows. The braziers had all been extinguished, laid to simmer grey and dull, the remaining light spilling from the wan sconces upon the detailed walls, flickering overtop the man I had come to love and admire. He stared back at me, impassive as always.

I allowed our silence to settle first, letting my thoughts gather, and spoke through the emptiness with a small, delicate voice. "I thought..." I managed, but his own warm and comforting speech embraced me like a warm fire in winter, kissing down to the bones.

"Yes," he said, almost whispering, nodding softly as he walked towards me. "I almost did. Almost." He placed a hand on my head and tousled my hair. "But I couldn't."

I smiled briefly as he continued. "A torn mind is a terrible thing. It rips and pulls and tears like a summer storm, forever ringing with the dull ache of a twin tempest, and without a fault." He paused. "I could have said no, Kaedn, and probably, I should have."

He stepped back and eyed me. "I'm risking a lot for you, you know, letting you out of the city. What you read in that book is forbidden across most of the Empire, and punishable by immediate death, if not a painful torture before hand.

"They're searching for me, have been, truth be told, and now they're searching for you, because you know these things, these secret things, these dangerous things. I had a good cover here, Kaedn, an honest one as Keeper of Shadows of Secrets, but I suppose it would have ended someday. Doesn't everything end at some point?" He said it to be encouraging, but to my ears, it sounded dour, grim.

"I'm sorry," I said, not knowing exactly what I was apologizing for, but that it felt right.

"No need anymore," he said. "It has been done, and we cannot change what has been done. Only fools seek such, and we are not fools." He crossed his harms, looking very pleased with himself, then turned and walked across the marble floor, his footsteps echoing.
"I'll be coming with you," he said, and I didn't believe it a first. Had I more time, I would have burst out, but he was quick. "Far too dangerous to let you roam unattended. One thing goes wrong, leads to another thing, and well, wouldn't be surprised if you find yourself in Antur or Avryn, a prisoner. I'll be protecting you, best I can."

"Lord Riveiar?" I began again, failing to finish my thought.

"Has already agreed," Aryl said, smiling softly. "There are also things I too seek in this cavern, being Keeper of Shadows and Secrets. Old things."

I let our conversation quiet as he continued across the dais, and then I stopped walking and waited for him to turn around. When he did, I looked him in the eyes, like I had during the trial. "If you were risking so much letting me go, why did you? Why did you let me leave?"

Aryl narrowed his eyes. "You spoke from the heart. You spoke honest and true and I knew you meant every word you said. Love is a powerful thing, primal and ancient, an old magic we cannot hope to control. It exceeds our grasp, our judgment our rationality, our mental capacity.

"You loved your father, as I loved mine." He paused and I felt my heart thumping, and I thought I saw a brief tear shimmer on his eye, but I could never be sure. "I let you leave because it was the only human thing to do, and that is what we are: humans. If we neglect humanity, our own sanity, then what are we?"