the warriors who would find them. This conspiracy to trap the Delmari would surely trap her as well. It would doom them all, and the thought of such terrified her.
The caretaker was securing the light saddle back to the stallion’s back as she moved quickly into the sunlight, his brilliant-blue eyes filled with concern.
“Is aught about, Sorceress?” he questioned her gently as she gripped the pommel and lifted herself to the unicorn’s back.
“All is well, caretaker,” she assured him, hoping her quick smile would placate the concern in his gaze. “I merely forgot an important task I was to complete. If the Guardian asks, I will return anon.”
Or not at all.
Astra gripped the Unicorn’s mane. Giving a firm nudge with her heels, she sent the creature to rise to his back legs before taking off like an arrow from the strongest warrior’s bow.
Mane and tail flying, he hit the path down the mountain once more. Astra headed back to the cavern before Delmari Sentinel Warriors drew their Wizards into a trap they would never escape.
The caretaker watched, silent, contemplative as the Unicorn stallion, its golden horn glistening in the sunlight, raced for the exit from the village common.
He would have smiled, but one never knew when eyes were watching.
Such as now.
He could feel the malevolent gaze, the assessing magick as he turned and hobbled to the small stables where grain, rich hay and sweet treats were kept for the Unicorns.
He was careful. Diligent. Always watchful.
Awakening to see the darkness attempting to slip into the lands he’d bequeathed to his daughters had rage pounding at his senses. Learning the magick he’d given to the children of Sentmar was being perverted in ways such as those he saw tendrils of as he walked the land had nearly stolen the careful calm he maintained.
In the centuries he had slept, much had happened. The distance he had been certain would ease between Wizard Twins and Sorceresses had only grown. The distrust his daughters felt toward their Consorts was even greater now than it had been when he had gone to rest.
Pulling his children together once more had been even more difficult.
Ah but the machinations it had taken to ensure Wizard Twins bent their pride and crossed the great frozen mountains that separated them had not been easy.
Thankfully, machinations and the Veressi went hand in hand.
The darkness invading the Sorceresses’ lands had spread far further than either Sorceresses or Wizards knew.
Far further than the lovely Astra Al’madere could guess.
Sadness crept inside him, hidden from the watching eyes and the tendrils of magick that sought to learn even the greatest of secrets.
Chapter Seven
They were still there.
Rushing into the cavern, racing along the long tunnel that led to the widening cavern at the end, Astra came to a hard, shocked stop.
She stared between the two Wizards, dressed only in the plain, rough silk pants of the warrior made from collin, the material created from the threads of the untamed, unoiled silk worms.
Standing, leaning negligently against the stone wall were the two Veressi Keepers of the Cauldaran Power dressed in black, brushed woven silk, the finest threads created in all of Sentmar, and black blade-skin boots.
The blade—wicked, sharp-toothed, short-legged creatures that inhabited the Causeway, the swamplands between the magick lands and the human lands of Yarba—was prized for its meat and its hide.
Yet it was the dragon that shocked her most of all.
And terrified her.
Had he finally come for her?
Had the magick she knew this dragon possessed finally learned her deceit and come to destroy all that he might suspect threatened the land and the Sorceresses he was pledged to?
But there was no threat, she screamed silently as she stared up at him.
Fear did not hold her before him, still as stone, though it should have.
Nay, it was certainty and the battle to find the words to convince this aloof, vengeful
The caretaker was securing the light saddle back to the stallion’s back as she moved quickly into the sunlight, his brilliant-blue eyes filled with concern.
“Is aught about, Sorceress?” he questioned her gently as she gripped the pommel and lifted herself to the unicorn’s back.
“All is well, caretaker,” she assured him, hoping her quick smile would placate the concern in his gaze. “I merely forgot an important task I was to complete. If the Guardian asks, I will return anon.”
Or not at all.
Astra gripped the Unicorn’s mane. Giving a firm nudge with her heels, she sent the creature to rise to his back legs before taking off like an arrow from the strongest warrior’s bow.
Mane and tail flying, he hit the path down the mountain once more. Astra headed back to the cavern before Delmari Sentinel Warriors drew their Wizards into a trap they would never escape.
The caretaker watched, silent, contemplative as the Unicorn stallion, its golden horn glistening in the sunlight, raced for the exit from the village common.
He would have smiled, but one never knew when eyes were watching.
Such as now.
He could feel the malevolent gaze, the assessing magick as he turned and hobbled to the small stables where grain, rich hay and sweet treats were kept for the Unicorns.
He was careful. Diligent. Always watchful.
Awakening to see the darkness attempting to slip into the lands he’d bequeathed to his daughters had rage pounding at his senses. Learning the magick he’d given to the children of Sentmar was being perverted in ways such as those he saw tendrils of as he walked the land had nearly stolen the careful calm he maintained.
In the centuries he had slept, much had happened. The distance he had been certain would ease between Wizard Twins and Sorceresses had only grown. The distrust his daughters felt toward their Consorts was even greater now than it had been when he had gone to rest.
Pulling his children together once more had been even more difficult.
Ah but the machinations it had taken to ensure Wizard Twins bent their pride and crossed the great frozen mountains that separated them had not been easy.
Thankfully, machinations and the Veressi went hand in hand.
The darkness invading the Sorceresses’ lands had spread far further than either Sorceresses or Wizards knew.
Far further than the lovely Astra Al’madere could guess.
Sadness crept inside him, hidden from the watching eyes and the tendrils of magick that sought to learn even the greatest of secrets.
Chapter Seven
They were still there.
Rushing into the cavern, racing along the long tunnel that led to the widening cavern at the end, Astra came to a hard, shocked stop.
She stared between the two Wizards, dressed only in the plain, rough silk pants of the warrior made from collin, the material created from the threads of the untamed, unoiled silk worms.
Standing, leaning negligently against the stone wall were the two Veressi Keepers of the Cauldaran Power dressed in black, brushed woven silk, the finest threads created in all of Sentmar, and black blade-skin boots.
The blade—wicked, sharp-toothed, short-legged creatures that inhabited the Causeway, the swamplands between the magick lands and the human lands of Yarba—was prized for its meat and its hide.
Yet it was the dragon that shocked her most of all.
And terrified her.
Had he finally come for her?
Had the magick she knew this dragon possessed finally learned her deceit and come to destroy all that he might suspect threatened the land and the Sorceresses he was pledged to?
But there was no threat, she screamed silently as she stared up at him.
Fear did not hold her before him, still as stone, though it should have.
Nay, it was certainty and the battle to find the words to convince this aloof, vengeful
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