Under the King's Assignment - Part 3

As soon as the speech finished and the meeting was adjourned Emery twisted his upper body in Victor’s direction.

“Why would you sacrifice your time and work with Felix? I thought you despised him.”

Victor sighed deeply as he leaned against Emery.

“I won’t deny that it felt like a foolish decision, but I’d feel more comfortable with you behind the books. Felix is too intelligent and curious. If he were to discover something he shouldn’t, there could be a whole different problem on our hands. Now if you’ll excuse me I have to go have some form of a discussion with him about our next moves.”

Victor exited the booth and headed off to tackle his new assignment. Sebastian Bancroft was trying to sneak out of the booth with him, but Emery caught a hold of his shoulder.

“Nice try, but we held up our end and proved that you could count on us. I’m sure King Vanistarr was satisfied with our contribution. I don’t doubt he took notice it was from you as well. Now I need you to help with what we discussed earlier alright?”

Sebastian rolled his eyes and removed Emery’s hand from his shoulder.

“Alright, alright. I’ll speak to some contacts and see what help I can arrange. What was her name?”

Emery frowned as he glared at Sebastian.

“Right, Mira Callen.”

Sebastian exited the booth as Emery and Silas followed.

“Well, Silas, I suppose our next destination is the House of Thanaturgy.”

Emery walked several feet before realizing Silas wasn't beside him. He turned around to see Silas had remained next to the booth so Emery made his way back.

“You heard the king, the two of us are researching thanaturgy now, so are you coming or not?”

Silas remained silent and leaned against the outside of the booth.

“Is there something wrong?”

Silas faced Emery head on with a darkness in his eyes.

“I do not work with those of the thanaturgy discipline.”

Emery tilted his head to the left, lifting his brows as his smile remained horizontal.

“Why would that be?”

Silas turned his head away and began walking toward the exit.

“Hey, I asked you a question. Why won’t you work with thanaturgy mages?”

Silas paused right there nearly causing a traffic jam by the exit.

“Death wagoneers do not have a pleasant history with the thanaturgy discipline.”

He continued on out and into the sea of people. Emery’s legs stayed motionless for the moment, but he realized he was losing track of Silas and ran after him.

“Silas, you have to tell me more about this!”

As he scrounged around in the crowd of royals and politicians exiting the grand hall he couldn’t spot the wagoneer anywhere. By the time the crowd cleared up he was nowhere to be seen.

“Well, I guess I’m off to research alone in that case.”

The sky was as bright and blue as can be with occasional clouds rolling by that would make laying on your back feel like a day off worth taking. Emery’s body was magnetically drawn to his destination, but he couldn’t help but admire his surroundings on the way.

Upon reaching the House of Thanaturgy something felt different. It may not be visible, but it was almost like a storm cloud was gravitating directly over the building. As if this group favored the dark and murky atmosphere. Emery reached the front door and looked up at the top. It was a lot larger up close than it was from afar. At least four stories high with a significant amount of square footage.

Emery stepped inside and heard a bell ring as he entered. There was a front desk ahead of him along with two hallways to his left and right. A flight of stairs up, and a flight of stairs down behind the front desk. He clenched his teeth seeing all the options, but took a few steps forward and rang a bell on the counter of the desk.

A few minutes passed as Emery tapped his foot on the floor and scratched his knee. He rang the bell again and an elderly woman appeared from the lower flight of stairs.

“I apologize for bothering you. I wasn’t sure if anyone was around, and I didn’t want to wander without permission.”

The woman placed a few books down on the counter and took a seat. She adjusted her glasses before getting a good look at Emery.

“Oh hello, you don’t look familiar. Are you a new student?”

Emery scratched the back of his head with a partial smile on his face.

“Uhh no, I’m here on assignment from the king to do some research.”

The elderly lady chuckled faintly.

“I was surprised at your height if you were a student. How may I help you?”

Emery leaned back to check the halls with no one else around before repeating himself.

“I’m here to do some research. I was hoping you could point me to your library.”

A few moments passed as the woman picked up a piece of paper and adjusted her glasses.

“Is your name, Francis Hearth?”

Emery stared at the woman. Was she going to ask him one by one who he was?

“Or is it Jacob Rankor?”

Just then the door behind him rang from being opened. An unfamiliar face walked in and dropped off some lunch for the elderly lady. She was now distracted again and he dropped his head down, chin resting on his throat while slouching.

“Oh I’m sorry, were you trying to work with Ms. Weaver?”

Emery lifted his head up toward the higher pitched voice’s direction revealing a young woman with a bright smile. A smile broke on his own face as his eyes relaxed and the aura of the room changed.

“Yes, this is my first time here and I have an important assignment from the king to research, but Ms. Weaver is rather comfortable moving at her own speed.”

He gave a little chuckle as she giggled at her elder.

“Well maybe I can help you. Are you looking for the library because we technically have two. One is upstairs and for the more common students, apprentices and graduates. The other is technically forbidden and only a handful of people have access there. If that’s where you’re looking to explore you’d have to get approval from the master of the household.”

Emery hummed as he slowly tapped his foot.

“I’ll check out the common library for the time being, but if you could let me know when the head master is present I would appreciate that.”

He took a step toward the stairs, but backed up and stuck his hand out.

“By the way, I’m Emery Hartwell, battlefield healer. I have a feeling I’ll need your help while I’m here.”

The woman returned the shake and smiled.

“Liora Bellant, junior archivist at the House of Thanaturgy.”

Emery pulled his hand back as his lower lip curled over and he nodded.

“I don’t think I’ve ever met an archivist before. There’s that many books here to track?”

Liora chuckled as she walked over to the stairs. Emery stayed in his place observing her footsteps.

“Are you coming or not?”

He pointed at himself before looking around to realize no one else was around. He jogged up the stairs to catch up with her.

“I’m technically a junior archivist, but I’ve been doing this for a long time. As sweet as that woman is, she has been the senior archivist since she was my age and refuses to retire. So I can help you find whatever you need.”

Emery followed with a little distance between them as they reached the second floor library.

“Before I ask about books, can I ask why thanaturgy is the one discipline you selected to be an archivist for?”

He relaxed his shoulders as he took the last step and looked around the room.

“I mean I can see that it really does have a large collection, but archiving isn’t exactly restricted to one discipline. You could have chosen anything and you chose death?”

Outside, the day had been bright. Inside the house, rain tapped against the windows as though the building kept its own weather. Liora turned around and looked Emery in his blue eyes.

“Well, if I’m being honest, I have some family ties to this world.”

She turned back around and began walking down the hall before turning left. Emery followed her even though he hadn’t told her where he needed to go.

“Hey, so I was hoping I could study some of the key doctrines that are frequently pushed in this discipline.”

Liora popped out from around the corner.

“And what doctrines would those happen to be? We have so many.”

Emery looked over her face poking from the end and a slight smile tugged at the right corner of his mouth.

“Well you’re the archivist right? Your family has history here, doesn’t that mean you should know?”

Liora reached her hand out and curled her finger toward her. Emery once again followed her around the corner.

“You might be interested in this. The most basic doctrine that comes from the oldest texts our discipline has available.”

She handed the one hundred page book over to Emery. He gently took hold of it and ran his fingers along the cover. The inner pages were soft and almost dusty.

“Wow, this feels fragile. The pages look like they’ll tear if you’re not careful.”

She leaned against the end of the stacked bookcase.

“Yeah, it’s just a copy, but it’s still an old edition of the original century old doctrine.”

Emery, tilted his head up and raised his brows up high while staring at Liora.

“How is that possible? Thanaturgy was made a discipline seven years ago.”

Liora stayed in her spot and maintained eye contact.

“Just because it was recently made official according to the kingdom, doesn’t mean it hasn’t been practiced by people for generations.”

Emery stood upright and cradled the book in his hands. He flipped through the first few pages and saw the title of the book. The Montclair Doctrines by Theodren Montclair.

“Wait a minute. The Montclair Doctrines. As in Felix Montclair?”

Liora nodded her head with a blink.

“Yup, his great grandfather.”

Emery looked back at the book and closed the cover mumbling to himself.

“So the Montclair family own the Houses of Ascentia, and they wrote the founding doctrine of thanaturgy?”

Emery looked to his left and saw a table to sit at.

“Liora, I think I’m going to spend some time studying this. Do you think you could bring me any other key doctrines or historical texts like this?”

She paused as she watched Emery take a seat at the table down the line.

“Before I do anything else, what did you say brought you here again?”

Emery looked back from his seat and raised his voice a little.

“I’m on assignment from the king to research some recent events, but I can’t really share much more than that.”

Liora bit her lower lip a little before turning around and walking away in search of other relevant doctrines and books.

A candle flickered beside Emery as the sound of rain tapped on the window in front of him. The flame illuminated his vision enough to comfortably read The Montclair Doctrines cover to cover. By the end he looked to his right and books had stacked up from Liora. He leaned back in his seat and reflected on what he had just finished.

“It looks like Felix’s great grandfather knew what he was doing when he came up with all this stuff. He had an entire theory and concept to base his claims on. From detailed descriptions of Somara, our physical existence, to Asomera for after death.”

Emery leaned forward and closed the book before standing up to sort through what was next.

“The thing that caught my eye the most had to be the concept of the Mesothan. The description was eerily reminiscent of Silas’ explanation of the Hush. It’s like Theodren was just using fancy words to explain the concept of a passage to existence after death, and how it can be achieved. Maybe that’s why the king associated the two during the council meeting.”

Emery shuffled through numerous different titles: Houses of Ascentia, The Art of Thanaturgy, and Modern Thanaturgy. He came across another book Liora left called History of Thanaturgy.

Emery separated the surprisingly thick book. There must be a pretty significant backstory for this one to be so large. As he thumbed through the first few pages nothing particularly caught his eye until he saw the table of contents.

“Ritekeepers…what’s this about?”

Emery flipped over to the 35th page.

“Ritekeepers and the Law of Graves.”

He skimmed through certain segments reading as quickly as he possibly could to find something useful.

“In 740, thanaturgy had grown to be an acknowledged concept, and it had overtaken what was previously more recognized. The Law of Graves. These were a strict set of rules and methods followed by people known as ritekeepers.”

Emery turned the page over with his eyes glued to the lines.

“They were most common among the outermost province, but due to death being a daily misfortune these ritekeepers existed in the middle and even, at one point, center provinces. They were meant to provide you with a proper end to life, but when compared to thanaturgy’s ways, ritekeepers and the Law of Graves were less admired.”

Emery’s finger followed along with the writing, his heart rate picking up.

“Ritekeepers began decreasing at a dramatic pace starting in 734, 8 years after the founding of thanaturgy. The reason for their decrease was a mixture of two things. The rise of thanaturgy, and the fire of the Hall of Rites.”

Emery switched from the left to the right page.

“The Hall of Rites was the official building the ritekeepers used for operations. It stored records of deaths, important texts and the majority of future ritekeepers were taught there. A large building in the outermost province, it was away from the majority of convenient mage support. Those were mostly located in the middle and center provinces around that time period.”

Emery turned the page again while standing up. The rain was still pattering against the window.

“It’s uncertain how, but the building caught fire in 726 and led to the death of at least thirty people, many whose bodies were inside became nearly ash due to the raging fire. After the loss of records, texts and a central place to teach, the practice of the ritekeepers turned primarily to generational teaching based on what was known by those who were able to teach. There are still copies of the Law of Graves in existence, but they are either in poor condition or housed by the few ritekeepers that remain to this day.”

Emery flipped one last page to the end of the chapter.

“Death rites as a practice has survived beyond the old world due to its convenience during times of war. Most often carried out by death wagoneers. However, their foundation in ritekeeping and the Law of Graves has faded from public memory. Many remaining ritekeepers have grown to despise the practice of thanaturgy and claim it borrowed from their Law of Graves. Even still, thanaturgy mages going all the way back to the founder Theodren Montclair have welcomed ritekeepers to the practice if they chose to join.”

Emery closed the history book and placed it down on the table. That was why Silas refused to come to the House of Thanaturgy. When Silas mentioned his long line of death wagoneers, he really meant ritekeepers.

Emery made his way toward the first floor while thinking out loud.

“It’s no wonder he operated differently from the other wagoneers. Most of them just grabbed the bodies, he was hovering over those graves and reading them their rites like his father probably taught him.”

Emery reached the first floor and no-one was to be seen. Liora wasn’t around, and the old lady had fallen asleep at the front desk. He wanted to go to the restricted section, but he technically still needed approval from the house master.

Emery happened to notice a set of keys hanging beside the old woman. It was possible one of those would get him access to the restricted area, but he didn’t want to get in trouble. With no one around, or at least conscious, it could take all night to get the approval. Maybe just a peek.