Thero gave him an affronted look. “I’m well versed in the various arts, Alec, as you very well know. That sort of magic always leaves traces and marks. If there is any magic to this, it’s too clean for necromancy. Nysander’s friend Teleus would have been the man to talk to about this, but he was killed when the Plenimarans attacked the Orëska House. He was the best versed in killing magic of any of us.”

“What about his successor, Miya?” asked Valerius.

“I think her studies have taken her in another direction, but she has all of her master’s books. I’ll speak with her.”

As they stepped outside they were met by a group of Scavengers being overseen by a score of the City Watch.

“What are you doing?” the temple drysian exclaimed in alarm as two Scavengers shouldered past him.

“Vicegerent’s orders,” the bluecoat captain informed him, handing him a scroll with the prince’s seal of office dangling from it. “As of now, this part of the Ring is being sealed off. All the sick ones you have there must go back inside.”

Looking past him, Alec saw a wagon loaded with boards and rocks, no doubt to build the barrier.

“But you can’t just toss them in there!” the temple drysian cried. “What will become of them?”

“They’ll be under your care, won’t they?” said Valerius.

The man looked at him with horror. “You expect us to go in there?”

“The Maker’s servants go where the need is greatest. They are your charges and you will attend to them. You, Captain!” He turned to the man in charge of the bluecoats. “Give my priests time to gather all they need and see that the sick are moved gently to some sheltered place. I won’t have you doing murder in the prince’s name and if you do, he’ll hear about it from me, understand?”

“Of course, Brother Valerius!” the captain assured him, cowed as most were by the sheer force of the imposing drysian’s will and presence.

Leaving Valerius to oversee the transfer, Alec drew Thero aside. “So what do you think?”

“I think that if this is magic, then a quarantine isn’t going to solve the problem,” the wizard replied. He paused, frowning. “I wonder if we have this backward?”

“How so?” asked Alec.

“What if it isn’t what these raven folk take away? What if it’s what they leave behind that acts as some sort of telesm? If so, then you may have put yourself in danger, buying that stone the other day. The boy who bought it has already been struck down.”

“May have?” Alec asked, suddenly uneasy. He’d had bad experiences in the past with strange magics.

“It’s just a theory. Do you have it?”

Alec took it from his purse and handed it to the wizard.