Erasmus Wordweaver's Arc

Chapter 2 of 4

The heir woke in the cottage each morning like a fresh page. Erasmus watched the young man learn. Aldric Truthseeker had brown hair and gold eyes that saw straight through a man's words to his intent. He was strong, quick, and hungry to know everything. But Erasmus had made him empty on purpose, and now something was filling that emptiness. Sylvara Nightwhisper never left the boy's side. Erasmus found them at the table. Sylvara leaned close to Aldric, her voice low. The boy nodded at whatever she said. Erasmus set down his cup harder than he meant to. "You spend a great deal of time with him," Erasmus said. "A great deal of time," Sylvara said. "Someone has to. You made a mind that wants everything. It fills with whoever is closest." She met his eyes. "That's me." That was the fear, spoken plain. He had written her hungry, and she wanted things he could not see. Now she was pouring herself into the one thing meant to hold his power. He did not know what shape she was carving. "I want the room," Erasmus said. "Alone with him." Sylvara stood. She did not argue. At the door she paused. "Ask him yourself, old man. You gave him eyes for a reason." Erasmus sat across from Aldric. His hand shook. He had no ink left to fix a mistake, so this had to be done with words only. "Look at me," he said. "You see what people mean. Tell me what she wants from you." Aldric looked. His gold eyes held steady. The cottage went quiet. "She wants me to survive her," the boy said. "She's afraid. A man in her old court knows her true name. She thinks if I hold your power someday, I could bury him for her." He tilted his head. "That's the want under the rest. But she teaches me true things. She hasn't lied to me once." Erasmus breathed out. He had feared a snake shaping his heir into a weapon. Instead his heir had already seen the snake, whole and clear, and chosen what to keep. The emptiness he wrote had not made a boy who swallowed whatever was fed to him. It had made one who tasted first. "You knew," Erasmus said. "I know most things people carry," Aldric said. "That's what you built." Erasmus called Sylvara back in. She read his face and understood. "He sees you," Erasmus said. "All of you. And he stays anyway." "Good," Sylvara said. "Then he's ready to be taught by anyone. Even you." The fear was gone, but a colder problem took its place. Aldric could inherit the power. He was ready. Yet Erasmus had no ink to pass it. His pen lay dry on the shelf, and the gift still sat locked inside him, with no way out.