The Conjurer (The Vine Witch #3)(44)
Yanis began by asking Elena to cleanse the center of the shop so they might have a sacred space in which to work. She blew on her fingers to create a small flame, which she held against the braid of sweetgrass until it smoldered. Before the flame went out, she asked if she should light the incense as well. “Wouldn’t hurt,” Yanis replied, so she got that to smolder too. Then with measured steps she walked around the space, letting the incense drift up into the rafters. Following the sorcerer’s instructions, she let the smoke seep into the darkest crevices to assure there was no safe place for unwanted jinn to find comfort.
When she finished, Yanis lowered himself onto his knee and drew a large star within a circle on the floor with the chalk. Similar to the talismans he created to sell, he added symbols to the spaces that were created between the circle and the seven-sided star. They were unlike any marks Elena had worked with before. She asked if she could draw one to experience the energy it emitted. Yanis wasn’t sure at first but then had her draw a crescent moon, Saturn, and Uranus. She was just about to ask about their meaning when Sidra reanimated inside the abandoned shop.
The jinni’s energy, even before she opened her mouth, was scattered and unfocused, signaling something was wrong.
Elena stood and brushed the chalk from her fingers. “What is it? What happened?”
Sidra began to confess, but then she saw Yanis and the chalk drawing on the floor and her temper exploded. “What is he doing here?”
“We’re designing a protection spell against Jamra.”
“Impossible. Stay away from this man,” she said to Elena. “He’s nothing but a liar.”
Yanis remained calm as he stood beside the symbol on the floor. “Sidra, you must believe me.”
Elena knew better than to put a calming hand on Sidra once she began to boil. Instead she moved to stand in front of the sorcerer. “Yanis can help us.”
“I’m warning you. He’s a bringer of death.”
“I didn’t kill him. He did something—”
Before he finished speaking, Sidra unleashed a stream of hissing steam from her sleeve that grazed Elena’s hip, making her gasp at the heat.
“No!” she screamed, turning to see if the spewed steam had hit Yanis.
But the sorcerer deflected the heat by raising his arm. Instead of burning him—or maiming the man for life—the ejection of steam halted as if hitting an invisible wall, curling and rotating into a tiny storm cloud that spun beneath Yanis’s open palm. The steam never even touched him. He whispered three words, foreign to Elena’s ears, and the mini storm dissipated in a final poof, leaving only a moist palm behind, which the man wiped against his soiled shirt.
Sidra stood with her hands at her sides, her fingers nervously clutching her robes as she scrutinized the man with a scathing stare. “How does a seller of charms stop my magic with the flat of his hand?”
Yanis let out a breath. His eyes seemed to judge the distance between him and the door. Sidra glared, threatening to test his resistance again if he didn’t answer her. The sorcerer’s demeanor changed. Some pretense fell away. His posture straightened. His jaw tightened. He was still dressed in near rags, his face was still wan and unshaven, but when he straightened his back, he somehow bore the weight of authority. Yes, there in his eyes rested complete assurance of his abilities.
“Because I am a priest of the Order of the Seven Stars,” he said and replaced his skullcap.
“Liar.” But even as Sidra spoke, she betrayed her own doubt by taking a step back.
“An outcast, but still ordained.”
“You, a magus?” Her eyes looked him up and down, not seeing the proof of his boast in his shabby appearance.
“Order of the Seven Stars?” Elena asked. “As in The Book of the Seven Stars?”
Sidra simmered on the periphery, anxious to know more as well.
“Yes,” the sorcerer said plainly but with a tone of regret. “I was training to be an acolyte.”
Encouraged by Elena, Yanis explained how he’d been accepted by the Order as a teen after he’d unlocked a summoning spell that caused a roc with emerald wingtips to soar over a seaside village. The incident caught the Order’s attention after the enormous bird snatched a dolphin out of the sea in front of a boatload of fishermen, who then boasted of the sighting at every café along the coast. “They trained me in sorcery until I’d mastered the skill and discipline needed to become a guardian.”
“You were recruited to oversee the magic included in The Book of the Seven Stars?” Elena was more than impressed.
“Acolytes,” he explained, “are charged with continually exploring the world of the supernatural. The mission is to push the boundaries of magical understanding and practice.” He held up a finger as if making a point. “But the contents of the book aren’t chiseled in stone. Guidance and advice continually evolve, manifesting new knowledge and interpretation in the pages as it’s uncovered.”
Sidra circled him. “And why are you not still pursuing this high calling, sorcerer?” The final word hissed out of her mouth like water on a hot skillet.
He swallowed as if he still held a sour taste on his tongue. “Much of that knowledge, as you know, comes from magical teachings first practiced in the ancient East. It’s important to keep the information accurate so the contents remain relevant.” Yanis wiped away the sweat on his upper lip. “The Order constantly investigates reports of unusual practices. Interactions with preternatural beings. Undocumented sightings and complaints. That sort of thing.”