Richard gave Warren a suspicious look. "Is Sister Becky's child yours?"
Warren blushed furiously. "No." He kept his eyes to the city. "I am waiting for the one I love."
"Pasha," Richard said.
Warren nodded. Richard looked down at the Palace of the Prophets, and the city that surrounded it. Needs.
"Warren, do all the children of men with the gift inherit it?"
"Oh no. It is said that many thousands of years ago, before the Old and New World were separated, many had the gift. But over time those in power methodically killed off young ones with the gift, so they would have no one to threaten their rule. They also withheld the required teaching. It used to be that fathers taught their sons, but as fewer were born with the gift, and it skipped more and more generations, those who knew the way jealously guarded their knowledge. That is the reason the Palace of the Prophets was created—to help those with the gift, who had no teacher.
"As time went on, the gift was bred out of the race of man, the way you breed a trait out of an animal. This gave the wizards who held power less and less opposition all the time.
"Now that the trait is so bred out, one born with the gift is exceedingly rare. Maybe only one child in a thousand fathered by a wizard is born with the gift. We are a dying breed."
Richard looked to the city again, then to the Palace.
His eyes locked on the Palace, Richard slowly rose to his feet. "They're not seeing to our 'needs'," he whispered, "they're using us as breeding stock."
Warren stood. His brow wrinkled. "What?"
"They are using the Palace, the young men at the Palace, to breed wizards."
Warren's brow furrowed deeper. "Why?"
Richard's jaw muscles flexed. "I don't know, but I intend to find out."
"Good," Warren said with a grin. "I need an adventure."
Richard gave him a cold look. "Do you know what adventure is, Warren?"
Warren nodded, the smile still on his face. "An exciting experience."
"Adventure is being scared to death, and not knowing if you will live or die, or if the ones you love will live or die. Adventure is being in trouble you don't know how to get out of."
Warren fumbled with the braiding on his sleeve. "I never thought about it like that."
"Well, you think on it," Richard said, "because I'm about to start an adventure."
"What are you going to do?"
"The less you know, the less adventure you will have to worry about. You just find out the things I need to know. If the veil is torn, we are all going to have a never-ending adventure."
"Well," Warren said with a twinkle in his eye, "I found out at least one thing of help, then."
"The Stone of Tears?"
Warren nodded with a grin. "I found out there is no way you could have seen it. It's locked behind the veil. In a way, it's part of the veil."
"Are you sure? Are you sure I couldn't have seen it?"
"Positive. The Stone of tears is the seal that keeps the Nameless One locked in his prison of the dead, in the underworld. He can rule the souls of the dead there with him, but he cannot come to this world. The Stone of Tears seals him there."
"Good," Richard said with a relieved sigh. "That's great, Warren. Good work." He gently gripped Warren's robe and pulled him closer. "You're sure. There's no way the Stone of Tears could be in this world."
Warren confidently shook his head. "None. It's impossible. The only way for the Stone of Tears to be in this world would be for it to come through the gateway."
Richard felt his flesh beginning to tingle. "Gateway? What is the gateway?"
"Well, the gateway is a what the name implies. A passage. In this case, a passage between the world of the living, and the
world of the dead. It is magic of both worlds, a passage constructed of magic. The gateway can only be opened with both Additive and Subtractive Magic. The Nameless One has only Subtractive, since he is in the underworld, so he cannot open the gateway. The same way someone in this world could not open it, because we have only Additive Magic."
Bumps were rising on Richard's arms. "But someone in this world, someone with both forms of magic, could open the gateway?"
"Well, sure," Warren stammered. "If they had the gateway. But it has been lost for over three thousand years. It is gone." He gave Richard a self-assured smile. "We are safe."
Richard wasn't smiling. He grabbed Warren's robes in both hands and yanked his face close. "Warren, tell me that the gateways isn't called the magic of Orden. Tell me gateway isn't the three boxes of Orden."
Warren's eyes slowly expanded to the size of gold pieces. "Where did you hear that name for it?" Warren whispered in a disquieted tone. "I am the only one in the Palace besides the Prelate and two other Sisters who are permitted to read the books that call the gateway by its ancient name."
Richard gritted his teeth. "What happens if one of the boxes is opened?"
"They can't be opened," Warren insisted. "They can't. I told you, it takes both kinds of magic, Additive, and Subtractive, to open a box."
Richard shook him. "What happens!"
His eyes still wide, Warren swallowed. "Then the gateway between the worlds is opened. The veil is breached. The seal is off the Nameless One."
"And the Stone of Tears would be in this world?" Warren nodded as Richard tightened his grip on the robes. "And if the box were to be closed, that would close the gateway? Seal the breach?"
"No. Well, yes, but it can only be closed by one with the gift. It takes the touch of magic to close the gateway. But if one with the gift closes the box, the gateway, then it ruptures the balance, because he has only Additive Magic, and the Nameless One escapes the underworld. More correctly, this world would be swallowed into the world of the dead."