Hierarchy (Book Four of the Torrent Skies Saga)

Chapter Twenty-Six: Conditions of Kindness

Getting to the top of the crater was less of a struggle than Katerin thought it would be, and for all the rush of her companions, she knew she had frightened them. Juen'tal was the only one whose eyes were not wide, but he kept looking at her with anger in his gaze, and that was just as unsettling as the way Brazen clutched her hand.

If only they knew, she thought. It was not long before the group had a small camp set up, and Katerin was lost to her books. Digging through the viable information, she found nothing specific to emeralds, so, with a nervous breath, she reached for the book of Ralore. She still carried it with her, but she was more than a little apprehensive over it since the clearing.

Lodyne seemed to like the book, too, which only caused her more worry.

Flipping through it, hundreds of illusion spells painted the pages. They ranged from the simplistic ability to make one smell as fresh as flowers, to things as difficult as hiding a presence from the gods. In her attempts to find a singular spell that would cause a crater of the size she looked at, were unsuccessful. So, instead, she held the book on her lap, closed her eyes, and let Ralore's vision overtake her.

Staring at the gem was dizzying.

The enchantment was so powerful that once she looked at it; it was all she could see. It was a spell with endless layers, and they vibrated whenever she touched the gem. It had a feeling of urgency, and desperation to it, that she could not explain.

Still cold as she had ever been before, she looked around the camp, putting the book of Ralore aside. "I'm guessing this did it, but I can't tell you how."

"We already expected that," Lugaria said.

Katerin shrugged "I... I can try to undo it, but I don't know what will happen." She rubbed a thumb across the gem. "There is so much magic here that I can hardly tell it apart."

"You're the sorceress," Lugaria said.

"If you think the gem caused this, we'll take your word for it." Brazen smiled encouragingly.

Katerin studied every face, Fykes' most specifically. Would he agree, did he think it worth the risk? She could not quite tell, so with a breath, she clutched the book of Ralore, set the emerald down, well away from the edge of the crater, and stared at the gem, until she could see the singular strands of magic. One at a time, she pulled them apart, her fingertips never touching the gem, but always moving those magical strands.

No one spoke as she worked, and the silence was hard to focus past. Past of her wished they would joke, or even talk about the weather.

The moon had risen high and in the clearing where the village had sat, its nearly full light cast a beautiful glow. A glow that Katerin could not see. Her eyes ached and her fingers trembled from the work. Each thread she touched had a purpose, and the deeper she moved within the stone, the tighter they were. She did not have immense experience with enchantments, nor undoing them with Ralore's book, but nor had she ever seen something so complex. And all of it gave the impression that it had been created over the course of only a few minutes. Trying to puzzle out how was only headache inducing, and she did not have the focus to turn her thoughts away from the gem.

Focusing with her eyes open was difficult, but as she pulled the last strand of enchantment away, the emerald grew hot. So hot, it hurt to touch. Chips of it flaked away, falling between her fingers. The heat grew so intense that she dropped it, careful to avoid falling in the gaping chasm. As the emerald fell to dust, light emanated from the bottom of the crater, and before Katerin could question her actions, a hollow sound filled the air, so loud it felt like a physical thing. It, too, emanated from the bottom of the crater.