83, Manmade

Tenac came running into her room, sword in hand.

“What?” he asked and looked at Ayya, that was sitting in bed. 

“I need to talk to the king and the head of the council,” she told him.

“Now?”

“Yes, I think I know what is causing the sickness,” she told him as she got out of bed. 

“You figured it out from bed?” he asked. 

“Yes, now hurry. I need to talk to them,” she urged him as she walked to get a dress. Tenac looked like he wanted to object but changed his mind and nodded. As he walked out of her room, Ayya got dressed. She had no idea where the night would take them, but she wanted to be prepared. Moments later Firlea and Hinat walked into the room, dressed and looking worried. 

“Tenac woke us and said you have figured it out,” Firlea said.

“I think so. I’ll explain when everyone gets here,” she told them. Tenac walked in a minute later. 

“I sent Roan, now we just need to wait,” he said. Ayya nodded. The four of them waited. No one sat down, no one spoke. They just waited. It took almost half an hour for the grey rider keeping watch at the door to announce the king, the head of the council and Zerden. 

“We need to keep this between just us. This needs to be kept safe,” Ayya told Tenac. He nodded and ordered two riders to be placed inside the door to the tower and another two to be placed outside the door to Ayya’s room. 

“What is going on? The note said it was urgent,” the king asked as he watched Tenac ordered the extra security. 

“Let’s sit down and I’ll explain everything. Tenac, we will need three extra chairs,” Ayya said. Tenac and Zerden brought in three chairs, and they all sat down around the table. All eyes were on Ayya.

“So,” the king said. Ayya nodded.

“I was reading one of the books you brought me, your highness,” Ayya started, thinking it would be better to be formal as the head of the council was present. “In it, I think I have found the solution to everything,” Ayya said. there was dead silence in the room. 

“Why isn’t the bishop present?” the head of the council asked. 

“I will explain it in more detail, but for now, the text I’m talking about is in Old Urundi. As I understand it, there are very few people in the city who can read it. But as head of the church…” 

“The bishop would be one of them,” the king said. 

“Yes, I’m not accusing him. But I think it’s wise to limit the ones who have knowledge of this,” Ayya explained. Both the King and the head of the council nodded. “Before I explain what I found, may I ask you what you know about who can use magic?” Ayya asked.

“Not much,” the head of the council said.

“I thought everyone could learn to use it,” the king said.

“It’s true to some extent. Everyone can learn the basics. But there are some who have a knack for using magic, an ability they are born with. It’s possible to train those who are born with a talent for using magic to fully master their abilities. Someone without that trait can still learn magic, but they will never be as good at it. That is one of the reasons the aari hold an evaluation before they accept someone to train to become an aari,” Ayya explained. Everyone nodded. “The reason I need to explain this is that one of the books you leant me is a record of the early church and how they tried to find a way to make sure the priests have the ability for higher magic. The church wanted to make sure their priests could use magic, but they didn’t want to acknowledge the existence of magic. That meant they couldn’t hold trials or evaluations. It’s very interesting.” Ayya opened the book to the page she had last read. “This is a description of one of the ways they tried. The book is translated into Common, but it’s an inadequate translation. The translation describes a tea, and lists the ingredients that will sort the ones with the ability from those without it,” Ayya told them and showed them the book. She watched as they skimmed through the Common text. 

“Is that cues?” Firlea asked, pointing at the original text and the little scribbles that first had caught Ayya’s attention.

“It is,” she confirmed. “Cues are used in spells and magical recipes to let the reader know what type of magic to use and how. The one who translated the text was for one not good in Old Urundi, or didn’t take their time, because several words are mistranslated. And second, they had no knowledge of magic, because they didn’t realise the importance of the cues. This,” she said, tapping on the original text. “Is not a recipe for tea. It’s a recipe for a poison. The text says they used this poison on the candidates who were to become priests. If they didn’t have the trait, they would become ill. High fever, coughing and unconsciousness,” she told them. The room was silent for a while, that described the symptoms of the sickness. “The text says that if the candidates weren’t treated, they died within two weeks.”

“Treated? There is a cure?” the king asked. 

“There should be,” Ayya said, turning the page. They read the translation.

“What is ‘the hand of god’?” the head of the council asked. 

“I think it refers to when a priest performs healing by laying his hands on sick people. The church says it’s a miracle from god,” Ayya said. There was a lot of nodding. 

“But why hasn’t it worked? There have been priests that have tried healing the sick,” the king told her. 

“Because the translation is poor. In the original text, you can see the magic that is being used has nothing to do with merging the ingredients to form the poison. If you mix the ingredients together without the magic, you will get the same poison as if you use magic. The magic is used to create a bond between them. The cure is to sever the bond of the magic, neutralising the poison,” Ayya explained. 

“Oh I see, that’s bad,” Firlea said. 

“What? What did I miss?” the king asked. 

“The one who has been using this didn’t understand the cues, just like the one who translated the text. So they created the poison without magic. That means there is no cure,” Firlea said.

“That is what I think,” Ayya nodded. 

“Wait, wait. I have so many questions,” the head of the council said. Ayya nodded and waited for the rest of them to collect their thoughts. “You are saying someone has caused the sickness? It’s manmade?” he asked. 

“Yes,” she said. 

“Why would anyone do something like that?” he asked.

“I don’t know,” Ayya said. “We won’t know that until we find the one who is behind this,” she added. 

“But if the magic isn’t needed, why are we thinking the one behind the poisoning can read Old Urundi? Can’t they have read the translation and used that?” the king asked. 

“I don’t think so. The last ingredient in the translation is Belladonna, in the original text it’s Bone wood. I don’t know how it would affect the end result, but I would say the difference would not give the same result,” Ayya explained. The king nodded. 

“Is there a way to know who has read the book?” Tenac asked. 

“If they borrowed it from the library, there should be a record of it. But they could just as well have read it in the library and then we will never know,” the head of the council said. 

“That’s not true,” Hinat said. Everyone looked at her. “There is a spell which can show you who has physically touched an object. It would let us know who has been handling the book.” 

“That’s brilliant,” Ayya said.

“That is most handy. Can you cast it now?” the king asked. 

“We should wait,” Ayya said. 

“Why?” Zerden asked. 

“Because if we do it here, the one who is responsible can say we have skewed the results, or that we are lying. I think the lady is suggesting we do it in a more public setting,” the king said, a smirk appearing on his face.

“His majesty is correct. This is a crime that has been committed against the people, so the people should get to see the evidence, or at least the representatives of the people,” she agreed and smiled. “I also think we should add some other parts to the demonstration.”

“What are you suggesting?” the head of the council asked. 

“Now that I know what we are looking for, we can test the water. We can also test the poison to see if it’s the version in the translated text or not. Together with Hinat’s demonstration, I think it will prove convincing,” Ayya said. 

“I have a feeling I am going to find this entertaining,” the king told them.