Chapter 200 – Secret Gardens

It took Mirian three and a half hours, and half of that time was cajoling Viridian into abandoning an early dinner to come join her. The man had his habits.

She informed Torres of when the Gate had switched over so the leyline detector data wouldn’t be mixed up and had her team start working on new detectors to be placed on the other side. She also took Jei, Endresen and Seneca with her, cautioning the gathered professors about Gabriel.

“I don’t trust him yet. That doesn’t mean don’t work with him, but don’t reveal your darkest secrets or anything. Or talk too much about me.”

Then it was a matter of preparing for the actual travel.

“I need at least five minutes to get an air bubble large enough. You have to travel through the Gate at the same angle. Start the sand timer as soon as I walk through.” She drank another mana elixir.

She didn’t know what the crushing depths would do to someone of Viridian’s constitution, and she didn’t want to find out. She could still feel the aches in her own joints, and the injury refused to heal no matter how much soul energy she pushed through the injuries.

By the time they emerged, it was evening, so the glow of the Mahatan Gate below the waters was especially beautiful. This time, she stayed dry—as did the professors.

Mirian could see several Holy Sentinels had taken up position around the oasis, likely to nab her if she’d tried to escape without fulfilling her end of the bargain. One of them, waiting by the shore, approached.

“I am Eylua of the Sentinels. I’ve been sent to escort you to his Highness,” she said. She wore a shining sword by her belt, two wands, and a spellbook on a chain. Her tabard was decorated with turquoise and gold beadwork that was more ornamental than functional, but it did give the Sentinels a certain presence. Mirian had been disappointed to see that, despite Persama’s historical innovations with spellrods, they were rarely used.

“Let us proceed, then.”

“God’s blood,” Professor Seneca said. “We really are in Persama. There’s believing something, and then there’s seeing it.”

Swapping to Friian, Mirian said, “You’ll just be presenting an effective alchemistry curriculum, which I assume you can do in your sleep. Jei, teaching crystal spells. Endresen, a basic curriculum on arcane physics. They have a University here, but it’s tailored to the elite. This would be tailored to the highly motivated but uneducated.”

Endresen pondered that. “Can I assume they’re literate?” she asked.

“No you cannot,” Mirian replied. Another thing occurred to her. She swapped to Adamic. “Hmm. Sentinel Eylua. Does Prince Rehiz speak Friian or Cuelsin? Or does he have a translator?” Jei could speak Adamic, but the others couldn’t.

“His Highness speaks Cuelsin,” the Sentinel said in perfect Friian.

Mirian winced. At least she hadn’t revealed anything sensitive. She still berated herself for making assumptions.

Jei said something in Gulwenen. Mirian only recognized the word for Gulwenen, but the Sentinel answered in kind and suddenly they were chattering rapid-fire back and forth.

As they entered the palace, Gabriel greeted them with a delegation.

Mirian raised an eyebrow at him.

Gabriel raised an eyebrow back at Mirian.

Sentinel Eylua looked back and forth between them. “Are you two done?”

“Do you speak Eskinar?” Mirian asked Eylua in Eskinar.

“She doesn’t,” Gabriel said.

“Did you tell them?”

“Not quite,” Gabriel said grumpily. “We need to talk.”

“But not now,” Mirian said.

“Eylua is who they assign to someone the prince doesn’t trust. I’m sure you can shake off a shadow, but that’ll shatter the trust completely. You should have let me take the lead.”

“I was improvising.”

“You were shaking apart the city. What the hells did you do down there? Never mind. Later.”

This time, Prince Rehiz was attended by two of the magisters. Koyar and Zeysum remained, but the other minister had departed. There was also a captain of the guard.

“Where did you go?” demanded the prince. He was clearly shaken.

“Torrviol,” Mirian said.

Eylua gave a slight bow then said, “Our divination could not detect her after only a short time in the water. There is indeed some sort of great device down there, though we did not enter the waters, and could not discern its nature.”

“Elder devices are immune to divination,” Mirian said.

Gabriel kicked her in the shin.

Why doesn’t he want me to interject? she wondered.

“Jibril, what is your organization’s assessment of the situation?” asked Prince Rehiz, clearly addressing Gabriel.

That raised Mirian’s hackles slightly. Whatever Gabriel had done, he’d done it quickly. Have I taken too much of a risk? she wondered. She had the advantage in raw power, but he had the advantage in information and connections. Likely, he’d had dozens of conversations with the prince.

Gabriel gave a curt bow, mirroring Eylua’s. “Your Highness, we met as she passed through Alatishad. She showed the same contempt for the laws there, and asked a number of suspicious questions about Mahatan, which is why I joined her to monitor the situation. However, she’s had no contact with any of the factions that might concern us.”

He was being vague, but Mirian recognized the pattern of speech. This was the way spies serving an intelligence agency spoke when they wanted to hide information in an open conversation. Gabriel was pretending to be an agent of whatever network of spies Mahatan had.

To the captains of the Mahatan guard, Rehiz asked, “Have there been any infiltrations of the walls?”

“None, your Highness,” the captain said stiffly.

The prince turned to Gabriel. “Jibril?”

“Just the usual smugglers.” When the captain gave him a withering glare, he said, “What?”

Mirian found herself both bored and on edge. She just wanted to get this meeting over with and get to the part that mattered—investigating the rare plants and old magic of the palace. She was so tired of social rituals. Gabriel might be lying about what had happened in Alatishad, but he wasn’t wrong about her contempt for rules.

Prince Rehiz turned to the professors Mirian had brought along.

“Is it our turn to talk?” Viridian asked.

Jei took a step forward. “Honored Prince Rehiz of the Oasis, I humbly greet you,” she said, taking a deep bow.

Prince Rehiz smiled at that. “Finally, someone who knows etiquette,” he said. “What brings you so far north?”

“Honored Prince, my studies brought me to Torrviol, and now to here. We have accepted Mirian as Chosen. Simply put, there was no denying her foresight.”

Mirian looked at Jei. Huh. Where did she learn that?

The conversation proceeded decently enough from there. Mirian impatiently waited as each of the professors spoke about their expertise and what they could do for the prince. She could see the greed shining in Prince Rehiz’s eyes as Viridian explained how much money he was making Torrviol Academy—and that was with a relatively small operation confined to a single greenhouse.

Then, at last, the moment Mirian had been waiting for.

The prince was no longer as agitated as he had been, but he was still wary. “They really are from the north,” he said. “That is your assessment too?”

“Yes, your highness,” Gabriel said.