Magician's Blood

2--Darkness in his Aura

Retrieving entry...

-2/Darkness in his Aura

Magician's Blood-Kisho

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July 16th, 3094 GSC—3:56 Standard Time—7:58 Local Time

Moza—Laric System—Moza Sector

Interior Courtyard of the Great Chapel of Moza

Two brilliant yellow birds squabbled at each other in a tree of blue blossoms. The sky—rich blue, but bulky clouds on the horizon threatened rain. The garden courtyard was automatically watered, but the rainbow array of exotic plant life was still happy for a shower dealt by His Hand. Father Daunox stood in the patio, a white cat tucked between his heels, pawing at the cobblestone.

The broad wooden doors at the foot of the patio were thrown open, letting the sunlight stream through as well as over the golden walls of the chapel enclosing them. There in the doorway, Elicia Vasavilli bowed.

Father Daunox glanced to the clock tower, and then back to her. "Your timing is perfect."

"Thank you, Father. Is Brother Morgan here?"

He gestured to the shrubbery. "See for yourself."

Her eyes followed the gesture, into the brush, and then to a square patch of grass that surrounded a tree. That was where he knelt.

Renault Morgan, a tall man with a strong, sturdy build—he seemed to be swathed with an aura of darkness, a veil of mystery. It was something about him she couldn't place. Something magical, she realized. No magician, right? Despite him having the magician's blood?

His sharp eyes stared through a pair of square-framed glasses up into the tree, which rustled as a squirrel peered through the branches back at him. Slowly, as slowly as could be, he rose to his feet. One hand, black-gloved, reached up to the squirrel. It held perfectly still, just watching him, until his hand brushed its nose. The trance broke, and it turned and skittered off into the tree.

"Brother Renault?" Elicia asked, finally daring to speak in the settling silence. She crossed through the shrubbery to offer a handshake.

He ignored her outstretched hand and bowed instead. "Captain Vasavilli. I've heard a great deal about you."

Yes, she thought, a great deal indeed. Who wouldn't have? Fame—or infamy, she supposed—preceded her everywhere she went. She returned the bow. "You're talking about my reputation as the Raven, I suppose, Brother."

"It can't be fully denied." He turned his gaze back to the tree. "History has brought together examples of people like you. Gailus of Meretis Canor to William Carway of Bellus Major, and... Elicia Vasavilli of Moza. Ravens throughout history, I suppose you could call them. I find them... fascinating."

"Is that why you wanted to work with me?"

He gave a faint suggestion of a smile past her, to Father Daunox. "It's a part of it. Your level of skill, also... you leave nothing to be desired."

She frowned. Something in his manner was undeniably strange. Was she some kind of test subject to him? Though—that much would be only fair, because the more she thought about it, the more he intrigued her. It was something about that aura of his, and the way his eyes seemed to be looking through hers, not at hers, to something far beyond.