getting out of hand, but now they are being whispered everywhere. Is that gull flying upside down?” Redzyn was distracted by the ungainly flight of the inverted bird before Em'risi could respond to his statement.
“It would seem so.” Em'risi didn’t tell Redzyn that she recognized Lesarovich’s energy controlling the gull until it spun out of control. The sea gull righted itself and flew off squawking in alarm seconds later.
“Strange, I have never seen a bird intentionally fly upside down.” Redzyn shook his head as Em'risi returned the conversation to its initial topic.
“Redzyn, have you ever tried to blow out a fire?”
“What? No, I mean, yes, I have blown on a fire. Not to blow it out, you blow on a fire to make it burn. What does this have to do with the rumors that are spreading? You aren’t surprised about the rumors, are you?”
“No, I am not, seeing as I am the one that authorized the rumor in the first place. Your attempts at snuffing the rumors have given them life. You have fanned the fire from an ember planted by Corman, into a crackling fire. The dangerous thing is that, when given a life, rumors begin to take turns that you can’t predict. They don’t always perform the task you created them for at that point.” Redzyn shook his head as he listened.
“I was once at Shienhin. Made me appreciate my little estate hidden away in a quiet valley among the Garoche Highlands. It was the way the people in Shienhin squabbles incessantly. Sure, they were all smiles when they greeted one another, but hatefully is the only way to describe the way they looked at each other’s backs. There were so many little plots and rumors flying about. Enough to make the head of a young man from a minor house spin like a children’s top. That head is a fair bit grayer except some things haven’t changed. Might I ask what might be your purpose for spreading this rumor?” They ascended a set of stairs that led onto the top of the wall along the sea side of Keom. A flock of gulls took wing as they approached.
“Hope. Hope and truth. Seeds for a better future. Under my rule, Gifts will not be outlawed. I dislike resorting to such low methods as having Corman manipulate the people. He is getting rather skilled at it though.”
“You think the people will rally to your name when they find that you are Gifted? That may be. They may even embrace this new idea but what happens when a Gifted decides raise his own banner? If I may use one of Reigns’ own lines, what if a pyromancer should want to kill you? Or any other king he doesn’t agree with.”
“I would encourage him to try. The law enforcement would be free to use their own Gifted. I would undoubtedly have Gifted among my personal guard. Warders are not so uncommon. It is just that they aren’t easily detected. I understand that it is a new idea, a new society even, that I am proposing. It is for that reason alone that I have been using Corman to prepare the people.”
“I only hope you know what you are doing. I tremble to think what could happen if a Gifted tyrant rises to the throne.” Redzyn did shiver slightly as he peered around a rampart at the crashing surf below. Em’risi wasn’t sure it was from his comment or a fear of heights.
“It is for that reason that no one person shall ever again have as much power as Reigns. I also hope that I am doing the right thing. I am not a seer and even then, the future is not clear to them. Rohal, seer of the wooden staff, wrote that moments appear in vision. They are seldom more than an isolated instance with little meaning, until you have seen the event that lead up to that instant and the events that follow. He described it as peering through a key hole. A spot of color or texture with no context, no meaning until time opened the door and revealed the entire scene. Only the Dragon Lords were said to have actually seen more than a fragment of a moment. Their prophecies have been haunting the land for the generations since. Born of blood and fire, wielders of ancient power and yet bound to the ancient blades forged during the Millennium Wars. Wearing a crown cast from the purest