“I am sure,” Quill said. “When I first saw it amongst Lael’s notes—he says he spotted an entire lakeshore covered with these blooms—I realized what it was and nearly fainted from the shock. I hardly dared believe what I saw, yet I have spent many hours in the hothouses in Om, and I know this bloom not just by its size and colors but by its scent and the sting of the oils it releases when crushed.”

“And you told no one about this before now,” Isabelle said.

Quill said, “As sure as I am that this is the flower spoken of in Legend, it does not by itself prove the Vault’s existence.”

Jean-Claude harrumphed. “You mean you wanted to get there first.”

Isabelle said, “Or to prevent someone else from doing so.”

Quill said, “There are sects within the Temple who would seek to interdict the Vault, to make sure they are the first to greet the Savior when he arrives.”

“They want to be able to point out who all the bad guys are,” Jean-Claude said. “Smite that one, monsieur, and that one called you nasty names. Perhaps give him a pest.”

From the Vault of Ages comes the Savior, carrying with him the grace of the Primus Mundi, said Isabelle’s chorus. To control him, is to control the world.

“What a trifling use for the Savior of all mortalkind,” Isabelle said, at least partly to the chorus. “I’m amazed anyone who believes in the Savior thinks that such a being would be concerned with their petty rivalries.”

“For people with no imagination to speak of, a petty rivalry can seem to take up the whole world and the vault of the sky,” Bitterlich said. “I’ve seen noble houses tear each other’s throats out over disputes about the pedigrees of men two centuries dead.”

Isabelle could well imagine the conflict that would arise over the discovery of the Vault from whence the saints had risen and from which the Savior was destined to emerge. Every cult and sect would lay claim to being its rightful guardian. Every roi and reine would want to claim it for their own.

“So why tell us this now instead of then?” Isabelle asked.

“Because Hasdrubal knows this as well. He will do everything in his power to reach the craton and claim the Vault on behalf of the Tyrant of Skaladin.”

That might very well explain the reports of the Skaladin Fleet massing near the Sundered Isles. “But if you have the journal, how did Hasdrubal know?”

“Hasdrubal was Lael’s lieutenant,” Quill said. “He had access to the journals before I took them. It’s likely he recognized the same clues I did. He did not tell Lael because the tyrant is his true master.”

Lieutenant Vrain rumbled, “Do you have any evidence to support this version of events?”