Bonus snippet -- Destiny and the Eye

The Faith of Fionnrath heard the commotion outside, sighed, and put his book away. He called up his power, letting it trickle into his mind, until his teeth began to itch. Correctly channelling the Faith, so that it could speak its wisdom through him while allowing him to remain aware and in control, was a skill that had taken two decades to master, but it had long ago become second nature. He waited, while his door was pulled roughly open, and a stranger half-dragged inside.

The stranger wasn’t resisting the two youths who were being less than gentle in shoving him into a chair. His hair and clothes were dishevelled, with ginger locks and tufts of beard sticking out everywhere, but he didn’t bother to smooth them down as he regarded the Faith with calm patience.

“Magic man came striding into town, insisted on seeing you,” Agnes said as she reluctantly let go of him, her lip curling. “If he tried anything – ”

“He does not carry the taint of power,” the Faith (the spell) said firmly, which surprised its human host. The man wasn’t magic, but he’d claimed he was? Okay.

The stranger regarded the Faith for a few seconds, apparently waiting for him to start the conversation. When he didn’t, the stranger said, “I am an emissary of the Eye of Duniyasar. You know it?”

“Our cousin who sits atop the world.”

“Yes. The Eye seeks your help.” The stranger leaned forward in his chair. “A war is coming. A war that will devastate this world, including your idyllic little town. We need your help to stop that from happening.”

The Faith doubted that. If his people were in any immediate danger, the magic would have mentioned it by now. It would have come up in prophecy. But then… the magic was fickle, sometimes. It didn’t always have quite the same idea of what was good for the town, or good for the people who spoke to it, that humans did. Its focus could be too narrow and too broad, sometimes. Still, a planet-devastating war couldn’t possibly have escaped its notice.

The Faith waited for more information. Waited to see what his magic would say.

It said nothing.

The Faith cut the magic free from his tongue and stood. “The Faith will deliberate,” he said. “Owen, show our guest where the inn is, tell them to put his room on my tab. We will continue this discussion tomorrow. Agnes, stay with me. You will need to ask the right questions.”

When the Faith and his apprentice were alone, he sat back and let the magic overtake him entirely. And Agnes asked the right questions.

The next morning, the stranger came to see the Faith once again. Agnes prepared the tea (no holly water for either of them, of course) and left.

“So,” the stranger said. “I assume you have questions? Have you considered my proposal?”

“Oh, yes.” The Faith didn’t draw the magic int his tongue for this conversation, but had long perfected the art of sounding like he had. He sipped his tea. “Fionnrath will not be assisting you with this endeavour, I’m afraid.”

“If the world suffers this war, your entire town – ”

“Will very likely suffer, yes. But we have forecast the issue, as best we can. A war will happen regardless, and as noble as your goals may be for you, I will not abandon my people in their time of need.”

“Then bring them along! We have the space, especially given how many of them are your potential heirs.”

“No. Our forecasting has predicted that yes, if this war is to take place without your intervention, then a great number of people in Fionnrath will probably die. It will be a dark time, but a time from which we will recover.” He sipped his tea again. “However, it has also shown that should you succeed, there is a very high chance that Fionnrath will be wiped out entirely.Not simply the place, but its people. Fionn’s entire line, gone. That, we obviously cannot allow.”

“You must have misread. We have no plans to hurt any of – ”

“Perhaps not. The Faith is not a great reader of intention, only of results. I understand that you have a world to think about, but I’m sure that you can understand why I must refuse.”

“Well. That’s that, then, I suppose.” The stranger stood and left. He hesitated in the doorway, finding his way blocked by Agnes. Behind her were three large men, all armed.

“Please take our friend back to his room at the inn,” the Faith said. “Don’t hurt him unless you have to, but do not let him leave.”

The stranger spun to face the Faith, fear clouding his eyes for the first time. “What… what is this?”

“Intentional or not, understand that we do have to respond to threats to our town.”

“There’s no point in doing anything to me! You now that; the Eye’s already seen everything I have, Duniyasar’s plans will go ahead anyway. If you think I’ll make a good hostage, you should know that I’m not nearly valuable enough to – ”

“Calm down, friend. Didn’t I just say that I don’t want you hurt? Of course your superiors can’t be convinced to give anything meaningful simply to save you. In that same vein, there’s no reason they’d expend the resources to rescue you. That is how this works, is it not? The Eye allows the use of disposable messengers. But you have nothing to worry about; all we want to do is talk. As much as it takes, for as long as it takes, for us to learn exactly what your masters are building and why it’s a threat to my people. Escort him back to his room, boys.”

“You can’t keep me here!”

“I think you’ll find that we can. What are you so upset about, though? I thought you wanted to explain your world-saving plan to me. Just think of it like… having a lot of extra chances to convince us.”

The stranger was dragged from the room, his protests muffled by the slammed door. As the sound faded down the street, the Faith of Fionnrath sat back, sighed, and picked up his book.