Belissar crossed his arms and glared at the man. Metsaitti pulled his spear back slightly, but kept it pointed forward, while the bees continued to buzz around in the air.

“Ok, first question. What exactly was that magic formation outside the Tower?”

The augur slowly nodded.

“It…was our means of communicating with the Conclave. We activate the signal formation upon discovering a rogue Tower.”

Then his eyes widened slightly and he sighed.

“I…apologize, Tower Keeper, but it is already too late. The formation requires the constant addition of mana to maintain. If it goes twenty-four hours without maintenance, it will send out a final pulse. The Conclave will assume that you are hostile and we are dead…they will arrive in force next time.”

Belissar narrowed his eyes.

“And how soon will they come?”

The augur’s face relaxed ever so slightly.

“Ah…in that, the traitor…or other prisoner, I suppose, was correct as far as I’m aware. I am no expert on Tower conquests, but I agree that our journey was long and fraught with peril. We passed several Towers on the way that the Conclave will want to deal with first, and I am not sure how an army would make the final stretch.”

Belissar nodded, but before he could relax the augur gulped and continued.

“...there is another angle you must consider, however. The Conclave is looking for your Tower specifically. If yours was but a normal Tower, the journey would likely be too far for this Grand Subjugation. But it is not, so the Conclave will not give up so easily. It may take a while, but they will come for you eventually.”

Belissar growled at that.

“Why? What makes my Tower so special?”

The augur’s face fell and he sighed once more.

“…that is our fault. We were supposed to bind your Tower and ensure it remained where the Conclave could monitor it, but we failed. The very purpose of the Conclave and the augurs alike is to ensure that no Tower is misused, and for the first time that I have ever heard of we failed. If the Tower was born beyond the reach of the Conclave then we would have had no choice but to accept it as the will of the gods, but for yours it was no one’s fault but our own. It was imperative that your Tower was found. We…assumed that such was the will of the gods and that we could not fail in our mission to them.”

Belissar glared at him for a moment before scoffing.

“…from what I’ve seen, the Tower Lords were wrong about the gods in general. They don’t care at all about peasants or beastkin or any of that. I doubt they cared about your mission at all”

The augur frowned.

“…you were one of the villagers, correct? I could see why you would think that given the circumstances but…it’s a bit more complicated.”

Belissar felt heat stir in his chest again but he stopped himself, managing to spit out a word instead.

“Explain.”

The augur took a deep breath.

“It…is true that the Conclave has exaggerated the gods’ views towards the common folk and the beastkin. But, to understand why, you must know the goal of the Conclave. The truth is that…the Hunger is no natural disaster.”

Belissar raised an eyebrow.

“Yes, yes, the gods sent it to punish the wicked kings of old or something like that. That’s one of the first things in the doctrine.”

The augur shook his head.

“No, the Hunger was our fault.”

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Belissar froze solid, his mind coming to a screeching halt.

“…what?”

The augur’s face turned grave.

“I do not know if it was a direct result of something the kings of old did, or if it truly was a response by the gods to their actions. The High-Council has specifically restricted the details so that no one may even think of repeating the past. But I do know that it was ultimately something that humanity did that specifically triggered the crisis. Not just a general sense of displeasure with the kings of old, but one single event.”

Belissar’s eyes widened. No words came out of his mouth as the augur continued.

“The Conclave’s primary task, therefore, is to prevent humanity from repeating a blunder of that scale. And in that, Towers are a matter of grave concern. As you have no doubt learned by now, Towers offer great power to their masters. You have the power to reshape the world within to your liking, to create matter and life out of pure mana, and to escape the very limits of humanity, while those you allow inside your Tower have the opportunity to earn blessings and grow beyond mortal men. But power corrupts and so the Conclave was deeply concerned as the number of Towers grew beyond the original members of the High-Council. It was agreed to limit entry to the Towers to those with proven faith and loyalty, while the Tower Lords themselves agreed to restrict their own powers, lest that power corrupt humanity and lead us to defy the gods once again.”

The augur paused for another breath before looking up at Belissar.

“That is why it is unacceptable for us to have lost a Tower, where the Conclave cannot reach it and where a rogue Tower Lord might grow arrogant with the powers it offers.”

Belissar frowned as he considered this.

“But…did the gods actually say any of this to you?”

The augur paused this time. His face began to drain of color.

“…in truth, I do not know. Only the High-Council knows for sure exactly what has been said in the past. Most oracles, divinations, and missions to the Tower Lords that were recorded and available to all augurs were much more limited in scope. I…I never wondered before, but if your patron has sent an oracle from the safety of the Conclave to your Tower in the wilderness…then your patron, at least, cannot disprove of your existence.”

Belissar thought of his patron…and couldn’t help a small smile as a bit of joy broke through the storm raging in his chest. He whispered to himself.

“Well, that much I don’t need you to tell me.”

He took a deep breath and glanced around at the bees hovering above…and at Metsaitti, who remained completely focused on the augur. Belissar frowned once more.

“Ok…but what about the beastkin? You didn’t mention that.”

The augur slowly nodded.

“Right. The…beastkin were once the soldiers of the kings of old. They remained loyal to those kings even after the Hunger struck. They then defied and opposed the High-Council, all the way to this day. They, above all others, cannot be trusted with the powers offered by a Tower.”

The augur then frowned.

“Though…if they are loyal to you…and dwelling within the Tower of an oracle…then perhaps the situation has changed.”

Belissar’s face scrunched up a bit.

“Metsaitti, you hear anything about serving kings of old or fighting Tower Lords?”

Metsaitti slowly shook his head, though kept his eyes on the augur.

“Our people’s tales don’t go past our service to our previous Sacred Den Master. I don’t know what is meant by kings of old, but I’m guessing your referring to more people such as yourself?”

Belissar paused and glanced at the augur.

“The wicked kings of old were supposed to be human, right?”

The augur nodded. Metsaitti shook his head again.

“In that case, we had never met any peoples such as yourself before you, Sacred Den Master, much less served them. If we ever had in the past, then it must have been a long time ago.”

Belissar nodded, and then began to rub his chin. So, the kings of old did something that, one way or another, resulted in the Hunger, and the Tower Lords were trying to prevent anyone from repeating it by misusing a Tower or a gods’ blessing? And the beastkin apparently helped the kings of old?

He frowned. He didn’t see why that meant lying to peasants, letting them die of plagues, and then burning down their villages. That didn’t seem like a good use of a Tower’s powers in Belissar’s opinion. And what did it matter what the beastkin once did if the karnuq couldn’t even remember such a time?

He was growing angry once more but he shook his head. It didn’t really matter to him why the Tower Lords did what they did. The gods apparently hadn’t specifically commanded it, and Belissar knew he had at least two of their approval at this point. The karnuq, too, weren’t serving any wicked king of old that Belissar could see and had been far better people to him than most humans ever were.

In the end, this all changed nothing. Belissar was going to build a Tower full of happy bees that the God of Bees could be proud of. If the Tower Lords thought that was a misuse of the Tower’s power, then they could take it up with the gods. And if they came here in force once more, Belissar would not let them take all that the bees had built.

Besides, even the augur was now questioning the things he was explaining. Belissar stared at him as the old man curled up and began to mutter to himself once again. Well, the augur had answered his questions…and he had been sent here by the God of Bees. He took a deep breath.

“Niobee.”

Niobee paused waving her stinger around to dance happily before him.

“Yes, King!”

He looked at her and smiled.

“Could you go ask your queen mother if the God of Bees wants to say anything to this guy?”

“Ok!”

The augur froze and looked up at Belissar, his eyes growing wider by the second. Belissar frowned but shrugged.

“Let’s see what the gods have to say about all this. If they want to speak with you, then I won’t stop them.”

The augur’s eyes began to moisten, and he bowed his head low.

“Thank you…Tower Keeper.”