boarded. Lady Evara was already on board, along with three of her servants—they must have boarded at any earlier stop.
As they prepared to set sail, Raia noticed the kehok staring unblinkingly at the augur. Maybe because he’s new? she thought. But the kehok showed no interest in the ferryman, who was scurrying all around preparing the boat. She was unable to consider it further, though, because it was time to leave.
The ferryman and his helpers pushed off from the dock.
In the distance, across the sands, Raia saw multiple figures: her parents and her friends. Her three friends were waving enthusiastically, while her parents jogged toward the ferry—too far away to reach them.
Smiling, Raia waved back as the sails filled with wind.
If her parents shouted for them to stop, she didn’t hear.
Standing between her trainer and the black lion, Raia turned her back on the training grounds, on her friends and her parents, and faced her future.
Part Two
The Heart of Becar
Chapter 16
The High Council of Augurs filed into a black-walled room. Each one of the eight men and women paused at the threshold until the others who had already entered said in unison, “You are known to us.” It was an ancient ritual, performed at every council meeting for the past five hundred years.
Before reaching the windowless room, each high augur first had to walk in darkness through a labyrinth of stone walls at the heart of the temple. Legend said that those walls were coated in a poison so ancient that both its ingredients and its antidote had been lost to history. Legend also said that five hundred years ago, the makers of the labyrinth had been murdered to keep its secrets and reborn as jackals whose descendants guarded the entrance to the labyrinth to this day.
Regardless of the legend, it was fact that the multiple layers of stone walls between the room and the world made it impossible for spies to hear what was discussed. And it was fact that all the high augurs avoided the guard dogs at the entrance, and none of them touched the labyrinth walls, out of a healthy mix of respect for tradition as well as paranoia.
Inside the room, each of the eight high augurs claimed their seat, stone thrones carved with the images of the birds, animals, and people their predecessors had become in their next lives.
The eldest and the head of the council, High Augur Etar, sat in a throne carved with the images of men and women.
High Augur Niasa occupied a throne with herons and a river dolphin.
High Augur Teron, a butterfly and a turtle.
High Augur Gasadon, a crocodile, a cricket, and a man.
High Augurs Utra, Siarm, and Nolak, all on thrones with birds and fishes.
The eighth and newest high augur, High Augur Gissa sat on a black obsidian throne with no carvings. By tradition, the vessels of the holy assassin were kept a secret, even—or especially—from his or her successors.
A ninth throne sat empty. It was carved with the image of a kehok.
High Augur Etar began the meeting.
There were no pleasantries. Only this:
“When must he die?”
One by one, the high augurs stood and reported.
“There’s violence in the eastern cities.”
“Revolts in several of the quarries. The overseers have controlled them, but they are increasing in frequency and destructiveness.”
“Ships were sunk at the docks of Carteka.”
High Augur Utra, who was in charge of external affairs, leaned forward, and the others fell silent. “Credible reports have come out of Ranir. King Hamra of Ranir has begun mobilizing troops in earnest. There is little doubt in my mind that he is planning a full-scale invasion. I estimate he will be ready by the end of the flood season. If our military is not deployed to repel such a force, it could spell the end of the empire.”
High Augur Teron exhaled a heavy puff of air. “The laws must be changed—”
“And cannot be until an emperor sits on the throne,” High Augur Etar said. “Even then, overturning centuries of tradition will not be a simple task. There will be resistance, and rightly so. The sacredness of our laws is what protects civilization itself.”
“The mood of the people is tense,” High Augur Niasa said. “It will explode, and we will have large-scale riots in our cities. With that kind of internal chaos, the empire is indeed ripe for invasion.”
“And even if Ranir had no interest in conquering Becar by the end of this flood season, we are exposing ourselves to an economic crisis that will weaken