“Besides, from what I understand, the order doesn’t care much if the girl dies, just so long as she doesn’t become your enemy, am I right?”
The warlock sat silent for a moment before nodding. “We prefer her allegiance, but we would accept her death as well.”
“Then it is settled,” Cyrus said. “Either her pursuit for revenge will help open her mind to joining your group, or the shade or Severin will kill her, thus ending the threat she poses to you. Either way, your desires are fulfilled.”
“Very well,” the warlock said.
“I must return to the academy. I will keep you informed of our progress.”
Chapter 6
Kyra sat in the library. She had pulled a small end table and a stool into what she now thought of as her part of the library. Even when she wasn’t studying about dragons, she brought all the books she wanted to read to the seventh section on the third floor. Hardly anyone else came to that part of the library, and those who did were either lost, or passing through to another part of the library.
Today, Kyra was not reading about dragons, though she did have the next of the Chronicles of Kendualdern out on the table, along with the notes she had been making as she translated the arcane text, just in case she felt in the mood to continue on with that project. The Chronicles had been the last birthday present she had ever received from her mother, and now that she had gone through Ascension front to back a dozen times, she had recently begun work on Dominion. She paused for a moment, running her hand lovingly over the book’s cover and remembering the night her mother had caught her in Lord Caspen’s study, trying to decipher the titles on this and its companion books. She smirked at herself then, thinking of how strange she was compared to the other apprentices who would be arriving at school in three months. She couldn’t imagine anyone else she knew scaling a wall to break into a forbidden reading room to try and translate ancient runes on a book that was locked in a case.
Shaking herself from her thoughts, she turned to the book she had selected. This morning she was busy studying wraiths. From what she could tell, there was hardly anything in the library that mentioned shades, but there were additional volumes about wraiths. Since the wraith she had killed had been working for the shade who had attacked her and Leatherback, hunting her down for its master, she hoped that by learning the habits of wraiths, she might uncover clues about where the shade might be.
If Cyrus had been able to find his answers, then so would she. The young sorcery apprentice already knew that she could use a dwarf charm, and not necessarily a weapon, to ward against the shade’s most deadly magic. So, now it was a matter of finding garunda beasts so she could harvest their blood.
Unfortunately, none of the books she had read shed any light on garunda beasts. Though they both seemed to be associated with shades, the passages about wraiths didn’t mention the garunda at all. Nor did they say much about where wraiths lived. From everything she could find, it was believed that wraiths lived between the plane of the living and the plane of the dead. It wasn’t known how they appeared, or where they went when they disappeared.
She set the last book she had pulled on wraiths to the side and let out an exasperated sigh as she slumped back into her chair, her body sliding down slightly, forcing her head forward. She closed her eyes and tried to think. She had already looked for books on garunda beasts after reading Ravenel and the Garunda. There were no other books in the library that mentioned the animal.
Kyra jerked her head to the side, cracking her neck a bit to relieve the cramp that had crept up on her during her library session, and then she reached out for a nearby book on dragons. If she couldn’t find answers today, then at least she could have a bit of fun learning more about dragons.
Suddenly
The warlock sat silent for a moment before nodding. “We prefer her allegiance, but we would accept her death as well.”
“Then it is settled,” Cyrus said. “Either her pursuit for revenge will help open her mind to joining your group, or the shade or Severin will kill her, thus ending the threat she poses to you. Either way, your desires are fulfilled.”
“Very well,” the warlock said.
“I must return to the academy. I will keep you informed of our progress.”
Chapter 6
Kyra sat in the library. She had pulled a small end table and a stool into what she now thought of as her part of the library. Even when she wasn’t studying about dragons, she brought all the books she wanted to read to the seventh section on the third floor. Hardly anyone else came to that part of the library, and those who did were either lost, or passing through to another part of the library.
Today, Kyra was not reading about dragons, though she did have the next of the Chronicles of Kendualdern out on the table, along with the notes she had been making as she translated the arcane text, just in case she felt in the mood to continue on with that project. The Chronicles had been the last birthday present she had ever received from her mother, and now that she had gone through Ascension front to back a dozen times, she had recently begun work on Dominion. She paused for a moment, running her hand lovingly over the book’s cover and remembering the night her mother had caught her in Lord Caspen’s study, trying to decipher the titles on this and its companion books. She smirked at herself then, thinking of how strange she was compared to the other apprentices who would be arriving at school in three months. She couldn’t imagine anyone else she knew scaling a wall to break into a forbidden reading room to try and translate ancient runes on a book that was locked in a case.
Shaking herself from her thoughts, she turned to the book she had selected. This morning she was busy studying wraiths. From what she could tell, there was hardly anything in the library that mentioned shades, but there were additional volumes about wraiths. Since the wraith she had killed had been working for the shade who had attacked her and Leatherback, hunting her down for its master, she hoped that by learning the habits of wraiths, she might uncover clues about where the shade might be.
If Cyrus had been able to find his answers, then so would she. The young sorcery apprentice already knew that she could use a dwarf charm, and not necessarily a weapon, to ward against the shade’s most deadly magic. So, now it was a matter of finding garunda beasts so she could harvest their blood.
Unfortunately, none of the books she had read shed any light on garunda beasts. Though they both seemed to be associated with shades, the passages about wraiths didn’t mention the garunda at all. Nor did they say much about where wraiths lived. From everything she could find, it was believed that wraiths lived between the plane of the living and the plane of the dead. It wasn’t known how they appeared, or where they went when they disappeared.
She set the last book she had pulled on wraiths to the side and let out an exasperated sigh as she slumped back into her chair, her body sliding down slightly, forcing her head forward. She closed her eyes and tried to think. She had already looked for books on garunda beasts after reading Ravenel and the Garunda. There were no other books in the library that mentioned the animal.
Kyra jerked her head to the side, cracking her neck a bit to relieve the cramp that had crept up on her during her library session, and then she reached out for a nearby book on dragons. If she couldn’t find answers today, then at least she could have a bit of fun learning more about dragons.
Suddenly
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