A bad storyteller
Arabeus Malva, one of the twelve Cardinals and the man trying to take my son away. He wants to control Lars and me because of our powers, but, at the same time, he hates Mages.
For some reason, he hates us so much that he's leading one of the expeditions. He collects my people around Alba at such a speed that it's frightening. When I heard about it, I was surprised. But it does make sense, all in all: he is one of those pushing the plans of the Church forward.
He might have been the one deciding the numbers for the massive execution. I can imagine it: they might have wanted to burn twenty people, but he should have complained it wasn't grand enough.
A hundred Mages is a huge toll to pay. Mother estimates there are between one and two thousand of us in the whole country. It would be one out of ten.