The Vlishgnath Chronicles. Daniel Mitchell

      After taking a few seconds to decide how to approach him, she spoke quietly. “So what now?”

      With a loud sigh and a helpless shrug of his shoulders, Vlishgnath shook his head. “I’m honestly not sure. Finding a sorcerer isn’t like finding a wizard.”

      Furrowing her brows in confusion, Sidonia thought this over for a moment before speaking again. “What’s the difference? They’re all spellcasters, aren’t they?”

      Nodding once slowly to indicate that was partially the case, Vlishgnath answered in a patient tone. “Technically, yes, they both are, but the means by which they go about it is very different. Wizards are not born; they are self-made through years of intensive study and countless hours of practice under careful guidance. Sorcerers are born with an innate ability to control the arcane; typically they hail from a bloodline of sorcerous ability. They don’t learn spells from a painstakingly transcribed tome the way wizards do, it comes as naturally to them as breathing. Unfortunately, their abilities are usually mistaken for a bad omen or something similar, and they are often ostracized from their villages even at young ages. Not many of them survive on their own, and as a result there are few of them nowadays.”

      Nodding, Sidonia responded with a curious tone to match her expression. “Then why doesn’t the university take them in?”

      Frowning slightly as he spoke, Vlishgnath tilted his head slightly to the side. “Well...there’s still some bad blood between the two that has carried over from the War of the Magi, if you can believe it. They don’t openly admit it, but the university is strongly opposed to sorcery.”

      Sidonia perked up. “Hey, yeah, what is that anyways? Garadain mentioned it back in his study.”

      Looking over at Sidonia incredulously, Vlishgnath’s right eyebrow quirked. “You mean to tell me you don’t know about the great Magi Wars?”

      Turning her nose up at him indignantly and folding her arms across her chest, Sidonia huffed at him. “Not all of us had the luxury of being raised right next to a living history book, you know.”

      After a moment, Vlishgnath nodded his consent and continued. “Over a millennia ago, there was a great war between the wizards of ancient times and the sorcerers of the world. Sorcerers claimed that the arcane was their birthright, and that wizards were laying claim to something that was not theirs with their spell books and their mage circles. Wizards were of the mindset that sorcerers were wild and unpredictable, their raw power a threat to the safety of the world itself since even then sorcerers did not formally train in any way. The result was the War of the Magi, a clashing of wizards and sorcerers back before the gods put a limit on the arcane power mortal beings could attain. In the end the wizards prevailed, although historical texts are rather unclear as to exactly how. What we do know, however, is that sorcerers became increasingly scarce as time progressed and are all but unheard of now. I guess it makes sense you wouldn’t have heard of it; the university doesn’t discuss it openly.”

      Sidonia nodded as she listened, pondering all that Vlishgnath had said for several minutes as they slowly meandered through Ascention’s streets with no real direction. Then, finally, Sidonia broke the silence. “So what you’re saying is you think you’re going to need the help of a sorcerer to get in to Khaarm?”

      Vlishgnath nodded. “According to the loremaster, yes.”

      “But you can’t just follow the clouds of stinky pipe smoke to locate the nearest sorcerer the way you would with a wizard.”

      Vlishgnath chuckled, nodding again. “That is correct.”

      Sidonia thought this over for several seconds, then looked up to Vlishgnath. “I might be able to help you. I know a guy, and if he doesn’t know where to find a sorcerer then I’d wager they don’t exist anymore.”

      Vlishgnath’s eyes widened, his tone quickly becoming uncertain. “Oh, erm, that’s really very generous of you, but I don’t think the church would approve if I knowingly collaborated with the Thieves Guild, and besides I—”

      Sidonia shook her head, cutting him off. “Don’t be ridiculous. You know full well I’d never show you where the Guild is located, anyways.”

      Furrowing his eyebrows at her, Vlishgnath still sounded a bit apprehensive when he spoke. “What do you mean, then?”

      Sidonia’s eyes widened a bit, her voice lingering as she began to speak. “Well...let’s just say...I know a guy, and...he’s never really been the kind of team player the Thieves Guild wants in their ranks.”