فانی

EPHEMERA

Codex message from Scholar Christopher Wolfe to the Artifex Magnus: Two students and twelve High Garda dead.We were lucky.

Luckier than you’d prefer, as I am still alive.

The Welsh have refused to provide us escort back to Aylesbury, and the roads are too dangerous with our losses. We will make our way instead to London.

If you ever wanted to prove that the Library is full of cold-hearted bastards who value books above lives, we have done that for you.

Response from the Artifex Magnus to Christopher Wolfe:

I know someone warned you not to go back to Aylesbury. You’re only delaying the inevitable,and this is a battle you won’t win. I advise you to pick another.

Let the girl go to her fate, which¸ I assure you, is sealed; there is ample evidence from Scholar Tyler and other discovered correspondence that the postulant Hault is, in fact, an Obscurist. A fact that you most likely already knew. If I prove it, you know it will be the last inch of your rope.

Family connections won’t save you a second time.