134

When you reach the Grand Proving Arena, it’s bathed in the moonlight that peeks out from between the ubiquitous clouds.

Mae looks up at its impressive walls. “You know, I used to come here all the time as a child,” she says. “I’ve always thought of it as a place of beauty, power… and judgment.”

You know that the Proving Grounds are where they hold mage tests of some sort, but—not being magically endowed yourself—you’ve never really thought about what those tests look like. Now you wonder what Mae, and probably Ashur and Dorian, had to do. Is it just things like making a big enough fireball or a tall enough ice wall? Or are there less pleasant tests they have to undergo, too, like the rumors you’ve heard about Circles in the south?

Now is probably not the time to ask.

“It’s not far from this entrance to the arena,” says Mae. “There’s a route through the main halls that will get us there fast—or we could take the private route up to the magisters’ box and get the jump on whatever’s waiting for us there.”

• To go via the main halls, turn to page 135.
• To use Mae’s private route, turn to page 142.