style="font-size:15px;"> My father woke me in the middle of the night. The bright glow from his lantern seared my eyes. Already awake, Zitora sat on the edge of her bed—my bed, actually. I had slept in Tula’s bed under her flag.
His words finally sank into my sleep-fogged mind.
“… found the cause of the weak glass,” he said. “Come.”
9
I GRABBED MY cloak and hurried after my father. The sky glittered with stars and the half-moon cast a weak light over our compound. Father led Zitora and me to his lab.
Torches blazed and crackled. The air smelled of camphor and honey. Bowls filled with sand and water rested on the countertops along with opened jars and spilled ingredients. It was the first time I’d seen his lab messy.
“I had forgotten all about it,” he said, picking up a small porcelain bowl. “Hoped never to see the cursed substance again.” He thrust the container at Zitora.
Confused, she handed it to me. The contents appeared to be lime. I grabbed a pinch, and rubbed the white substance between my fingertips. Lime.
“Jaymes, what are you talking about?” she asked.
“What’s wrong with the lime, Father?”
He drew in a deep breath and settled into his chair.
“Thirty years ago, well before the Commander’s takeover of Ixia, we used to import sand and other glass compounds from the north. There were a number of glass factories in Booruby back then—twice as many as today—and competition was fierce.” My father’s gaze was unfocused as he stared into the past.
“I only had two kilns then, but my wares were different and I was new. Business boomed and I ordered another two kilns.”
Zitora opened her mouth, but I placed my hand on her shoulder, warning her to keep quiet with a slight shake of my head. He would get to the point of his story eventually, interrupting or hurrying him would only prolong the tale. We sat in the other two chairs and listened.
“Unfortunately my rivals took exception to my newfound success and plotted ways to discredit me. They started what’s now known as the Glass Wars. My factory was hit first. They contaminated my lime with Brittle Talc. It looks like lime, feels like lime, but if it gets into your molten mix, the talc affects the quality of your piece.”
“Makes it less dense?” I asked.
“Exactly. Drove me crazy, wondering why my glass broke so easily. Almost drove me out of business, too. Soon only a few glass factories remained. We suspected sabotage, but had no proof. I discovered the contaminant by accident. While shoveling my lime into bags to sell to the farmers because I was desperate for money, I spilled a bucket of water onto the pile. The lime turned purple.”
“Purple?” Zitora asked.
“Purple,” my father repeated. “The water reacted to the Brittle Talc, changing color. We didn’t know the name then, but when I made glass with lime that didn’t turn purple, it didn’t break. I was just happy to be back in business, but the other glassmakers who had been hit by the Brittle Talc decided to retaliate.”
“The Glass Wars,” I said, remembering my father’s stories. “You never told us about the Brittle Talc before.”
“I didn’t want you to know about it. Eventually, the man responsible for bringing the talc to Booruby was caught and the factory owners who started the whole mess were arrested. The factories that had survived the war in one piece signed an agreement to work together. Only a few of us knew about the talc and we promised to keep it quiet. There hasn’t been a problem—besides minor disagreements—since.”
Father pulled the bowl from my hands and set it on his desk. “This is a sample of the lime you brought back from the Stormdance Clan.” He tipped a glass of water into it. The lime turned purple.
“Could the talc get into the Stormdance lime by accident?” Zitora asked.
“Nope.”
“Who knows about Brittle Talc?”
“Me, my brother and two other master glassmakers.”
“Where does it come from?” I asked.
My father shot me a proud smile even though my question didn’t show any great intelligence on my part. “Ixia.”
Ixia. The northern country was named twice since I’ve been working with the Stormdancers. The old lady who sold me the glass vase at the Thunder Valley market also mentioned Ixia.
“We have a trade treaty with Ixia. All goods sent over the border either way are supposed to be recorded. Perhaps we can find out who is exporting Brittle Talc to Sitia. What is it made from?” Zitora asked.
“From the flowers of the Chudori plant. When dried, they can be crushed into a fine powder. The plant grows near the northern ice sheet and at the base of the Ixian Soul Mountains.”
“In other words, in locations where no one lives.” Zitora frowned.
“Where no one can witness the harvesting of the flowers.” He swirled the contents of the bowl.
“What about the man who was caught for bringing Brittle Talc to Booruby?” I asked. “Was he from Ixia or Sitia? Did he mention anyone who helped him make the talc?”
“Back then you could cross the border to Ixia without papers or permission. He had the pale coloring of a northerner. He claimed he worked alone, but he wouldn’t tell us anything more about himself or the talc.”
“Is he still alive?”
“No. He was killed in prison by a glassmaker’s son. The young man’s father killed himself when his business was destroyed and the son managed to get arrested and thrown into the same prison. No one in Booruby grieved.”
We sat for a while in silence. I mulled over the information my father had given us.
“Are any of the other glass ingredients from the Stormdancers tainted?” I asked.
Father gestured to the array of bowls. “Not that I could find, but there is always a chance it could be a substance I haven’t seen before.”
Zitora leaned closer to the desk. “How big of a chance?”
I answered for him. “Tiny. He’s been working with glass for over thirty years.”
“Opal, now don’t go making me sound so smart. But I will say the Brittle Talc is the only substance I found that affects the density of the glass. If there was another problem with the orbs, then I would tell the Stormdancers to buy all new ingredients for their glass.”
But all they needed to buy was clean lime. “So the spiked lime was sabotaged. Who would do it?” No one spoke for a moment. I listed suspects in my mind, including the Stormdancers and the glassmakers. “Do you think the ambushers had anything to do with the tainted lime?”
“It’s possible. They planned to stop
