Free Branches of Time, The by Luca Rossi Page A

She entered a small, square room, closing the door behind her. Lil would never come to this area of the Temple, and Bashinoir isn't even allowed here, but it's better not to run any risks.
    She placed her hands in the black liquid of the rocky hollow and immediately the image of Tuirl materialized in front of her, first faint, then growing more clearly defined.
    “Why did you wait so long to contact me?” she reproached him drily.
    “Priestess, I humbly ask for your forgiveness, but my engagements at court did not allow me to come here earlier.”
    “Engagements at court, or fear of facing me?”
    Tuirl felt an icy chill travel down his spine. As he had expected, the priestess was incredibly angry with him. How could it have been otherwise? The advisor understood punishment was in order, and that, this time, it would be very harsh.
    “Priestess Miril, I understand what happened cannot be justified -”
    “The entire population of the island has been exterminated. My people . Do you understand what that means?”
    “Yes, priestess. I'm aware of the situation, and I still don't understand how the old wizard Aldin was able to pull off such an extensive magical operation. He always seemed to be completely incompetent, and I never failed to perform the acts of sabotage you ordered me to.”
    “So what happened, then?” Miril was barely able to contain her rage. Tuirl had never even heard her raise her voice before.
    “I...I don't know. Aldin may have worked secretly on a few spells, without my knowing.”
    “How could that possibly have gotten by you? I ordered you to go through that laboratory every single night! You had very precise instructions. You were to report to me, in advance, on any spell Aldin was preparing to cast.”
    “Priestess, believe me, that's what I always did. I never kept any information from you.”
    “And yet, you were so careless as to let the preparations for a spell – a spell that exterminated an entire people – get right past you!”
    Miril was beside herself with anger. Tuirl started to fear for his own life.
    “Tuirl,” she began again. “The preparations for a spell of that magnitude require years, if not decades. Are you sure you never noticed anything?”
    “Priestess Miril, please, believe me. I reported every ritual, spell, and magical action that the wizard Aldin undertook, directly to you. You had information on the progress of every spell he cast to break down the barrier and, as a matter of fact, following your orders, I was able to alter the composition of the elements, without raising any suspicion. He was so sure of his success that he decided to set sail on the same ship, taking on someone else's appearance. And when the ship crashed, he died along with the rest.”
    Aldin is dead? The priestess, who had been deprived of this precious contact with Tuirl for weeks, wasn't aware of that particular detail.
    “So, the court wizard is no longer alive?”
    “Precisely, priestess. And, if you'll allow me to continue, it's also partly because of me.”
    For once he followed the instructions properly. “So what has the king decided to do now? Will he give up on these designs?”
    “Actually, if you want to know the truth, upon my counsel, he decided to call old Obolil back into service.”
    “And what made you suggest such a thing to him?”
    “I don't trust the apprentice, young Ilis. We don't know what he's capable of. I thought if the king gave him the time and resources to go ahead with his own experiments, maybe he would have learned something that would prove to be dangerous for us. But, on the other hand, if he's under the guidance of the wizard Obolil, then there's no way anything is going to change. As you know full well, Obolil never had any talent to him. Besides, he's exhausted, after spending twenty years locked up in a cell, kept company by his own excrement. His memory is weak and he's full of hatred for the king. In other words, under Obolil's guidance, we