Traitor's Moon

anyone else noticed the edge of anger in his friend’s voice. Here were more secrets.
    â€œBy the Light, they’re the—the—” Thero waved a hand, at a loss for words and too caught up in his own enthusiasm to notice the cool reception he was getting from the one person among them who might have direct knowledge. “They stand at the very source of magic! Nysander and Magyana both spoke of them with reverence, Alec, a sect of wizard priests who live at Sarikali. The rhui’auros are similar to the oracles of Illior, aren’t they, Seregil?”
    â€œMad, you mean?” Seregil looked down at the food he was not eating. “I’d say that’s a fair assessment.”
    â€œWhat if they tell me I’m related to one of the unfriendly clans?” Alec asked, trying to draw Thero’s attention.
    The wizard paused. “That could create difficulties, I suppose.”
    â€œIndeed,” mused Klia. “Perhaps you should be circumspect in your inquiries.”
    â€œI always am,” Alec replied with a smile only a few at the table fully understood. “But how could the rhui’auros tell who my ancestors were?”
    â€œThey practice a very special sort of magic,” Thero explained. “Only the rhui’auros are allowed to travel the inner roads of the soul.”
    â€œLike the truth knowers of the Orëska?”
    â€œThe Aurënfaie don’t have that magic, exactly,” Seregil interjected. “You’d do well to keep that in mind, Thero. The punishment for invading another’s thoughts is severe.”
    â€œMy skills in that direction are not particularly strong. As I was saying, the rhui’auros believe they can trace a person’s
khi
, the soul thread that connects us all to Illior.”
    â€œAura,” Seregil corrected.
    â€œBeing a full half ’faie, Alec, yours should be strong,” said Beka, following the conversation with interest.
    â€œI’m not sure that makes any difference,” said Thero. “I’m generations away from my ’faie ancestors, yet my abilities are equal to those of Nysander and the other old ones.”
    â€œYes, but you’re one of the few younger ones left who possess such power,” Seregil reminded him.
    â€œIf all wizards have some Aurënfaie blood, do they know which clans they’re related to?” asked Beka.
    â€œSometimes,” said Thero. “Magyana’s father was an Aurënfaie trader who settled in Cirna. My line goes back to the Second Orëska at Ero, with generations of intermarried mixed-bloods. Nysander’s teacher, Arkoniel, was from the same line.
    â€œSpeaking of rhui’auros, Seregil, have you thought of visiting them yourself? Perhaps they could discover why you have such trouble with magic. You’ve got the ability, if only you could master it.”
    â€œI’ve managed well enough without it.”
    Was it his imagination, Alec wondered, or had Seregil actually gone a bit pale?

7
S TRIPED S AILS AND F IRE
    B y dawn, the
Zyria
and her escorts were already well out to sea.
    Much to Alec’s disappointment, Beka had sailed aboard the
Wolf
with Mercalle’s decuria. He could see her striding around the deck, red hair shining in the sun. They exchanged shouted greetings, but the distance and rushing sea made conversation difficult.
    Thero accompanied Klia on their ship, and although Alec was happy to renew their acquaintance, he soon began to suspect that the wizard had changed less than he’d originally thought. Thero was less abrupt, to be sure, but still a bit distant—a cold fish, as Seregil liked to say. Forced together in close quarters, he and Seregil were soon sparring again, if not quite so bitterly as before.
    When Alec remarked on this, Seregil merely shrugged. “What did you expect, for him to somehow turn into Nysander? We are who we are.”
    They followed the coastline all day, sailing a few miles outside the scattered islands that edged the western shore.
    Standing at the rail, Alec scanned the distant sea cliffs and thought of his first journey here aboard the
Grampus
, when Seregillay dying in the hold. The steep land between cliff and mountains showed the first green of spring, and from here it all looked peaceful—except for the red sails like their own that began to appear with greater frequency the further south they traveled.
    Alec was at the rail again