Chapter 3

The night was dark; far darker than it had been for many months now. Even the great pole star Illustus shone dimly, and the old world's moons were but two faded smudges in an overcast canvas of grey. As the night drew on, a cold easterly breeze swept across the island, bringing with it a rolling bank of dense fog that settled on the city streets and enveloped the Magical Isle in a cold, damp, impenetrable mist.

Even from his position high atop the tallest tower of the Wizards' Citadel, Callum could only faintly make out the shapes of a few towers and rooftops tall enough to pierce the fog. Not even the street-lanterns of the wizards could penetrate the mist; their bright lights reduced to nothing more than faint, eerie glows as the greatest city in the realm of men was reduced to nothing more than a panorama of dull grey.

Callum pulled his cloak tightly around him as the cold easterly wind bit into his skin, bringing with it another rolling bank of fog to shroud the streets in mist. It was a cold night already, but he knew they were not over the worst of it yet. Strange that such weather should hit them in the middle of the summer months, but a welcome relief from the cloying intensity of the hottest summer days anyone could remember for at least half a century.

He looked to the east in search of even the faintest rays of light that might signal the approaching dawn, but found the horizon as chocked with thick cloud and mist as were the city streets below him. At best guess, he didn't have too much longer to wait. He had already spent most of the night pacing atop the tower, waiting for the coming day. A few more hours wouldn't hurt. At least it would give him time to think.

It was at times like these that he missed Kiera most. She had been gone nearly six months now, and if the absence of her mother was having a significant effect on their daughter Phae, the absence of his wife was really starting to take its toll. Even after all their years of marriage, he loved her just as much now as he did the day he had first set eyes on her, in a small tavern in the town of Osten.

He thought fondly of the time he and his best friend Aaron had first encountered the young swordswoman. She had saved them from a local gang of thugs that day, and from that moment on their fate together had been sealed. Their path had taken them to the forbidden lands in the south, and then further south still as they found themselves embroiled in the midst of a dark conspiracy to bring the realm to its knees. Kiera's own personal journey had culminated in her taking the path of the Lintari, and so joining a small band of mysterious warrior-folk bound to the earth and gifted with its powers that they might act as defenders of the old world and keepers of the peace.

Of course, they had met many other companions on their travels, and none more important than the water-mage Lena, whose keen intelligence and bravery had saved Callum's life more times than he could count. While she had always been a powerful, if unrefined magic-user, she had grown in stature while travelling with Callum and his company, and had grown to a power far in advance of any water-mage he had ever met. She quite literally shared a "bond" with the ocean, that was at once both fiercely impressive yet terrifying for anyone who knew as he did, the great power a mage of her kind could draw from the sea.

While there were few mages more powerful than Lena, there were certainly none he trusted more, and she had grown, along with Aaron and Kiera, to be one of his closest and dearest friends. Of course, while he himself had fallen helplessly in love with Kiera as their adventures took their course, this wasn't to say that he was the only one to fall in love. While they had travelled, Lena had grown ever closer to his friend Aaron, and now, some years later, the two lived in a small house on the edge of the city.

Callum supressed a laugh as he imagined what Aaron would think of him now, standing alone atop the Citadel, looking out over the mist-shrouded city, waiting for the new dawn. If he wasn't complaining about the weather, or his insatiable hunger, Aaron frequently spent much of his time trying his very best to rile Kiera, or find some excuse to pick on Callum. Now he thought about it, Callum was certain if his friend knew what he was doing at this moment, he'd probably tell him to stop moping and get some sleep. Yes, that was Aaron alright blunt, sarcastic, but in his own strange way, incredibly caring and thoughtful.

Callum paused for a moment and considered going to find his friend for a chat and an early morning cup of tea. Though Aaron would no-doubt complain bitterly at having his sleep disturbed, Callum knew he wouldn't mean it really. Aaron would more than willingly give his life for him, and he'd likewise do the same for his friend. They'd been through too much together not to know what the other would think.

He sighed as his thoughts worked their natural way back to the main reason he couldn't sleep; the reason he stood atop the 'Isle's highest tower in the middle of the night. Phae was at once his deepest, most profound love, yet also the source of his greatest problems. She had only just recently celebrated her fifteenth birthday, and yet from the moment she had come forth into the world, she had been trouble.

The problem came of course, from her parentage. Born of a union never before witnessed in the realm of men, Phae had blood inside her with the potential to make her one of the most powerful beings the old world had ever known. Both he and Kiera had studied hard before finally agreeing to have children, and though he'd always wanted some of his own, the prospect of melding mage with Lintari had at first been one he was not keen to consider. "The danger is just too great," he had said the Lintari didn't have children for a reason, and for Kiera to have a child with the most powerful magic-user in the realm was asking for trouble.

They just hadn't realised how much.

Callum sighed fondly as he considered his daughter in all her flawed brilliance. For all the difficulties she had caused since her birth all the fires, the earthquakes, and even the odd creature summoned from beyond, he wouldn't change her for the world. From the moment she had been born a bond had been formed between them far stronger than any he could have ever imagined. It wasn't just a bond of parenthood it was a bond of magic.

Kiera couldn't quite understand when he had tried to explain it to her, but there was something between them something they shared that made them far closer than mere father and daughter. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but it was there nonetheless, always in the background; an awareness of the other closer still than even his bond with his wife. What was it old Kulgrim had said? "Magic works in strange ways," yes that was it, and certainly no stranger than it had worked to help bring about Phae a child of unparalleled magical potential, but a child nonetheless. She was growing up fast, and while even her formative years had proved troublesome, her journey into adolescence had taken her problems to a whole new level, and every day Callum could see she seemed to be in less control. The fire in the Halls of Meditation would be only the beginning.

He had to do something, but he didn't know what.

Phae was a danger: both to herself and to the people around her. Were she not his daughter, Callum knew that the citizens of the Magical Isle would be far less "forgiving" of her episodes. Only last week she had unleashed a mini-tornado in the library

Callum sighed again as he considered his options. Though the day would remain cold well into the morning, the first rays of dawn were at long last starting to break their way through the mist on the horizon.

It was time to make a decision. It was time to see Aaron.