First Apprentice

Chapter 31 Part 1

Dusk fell without warning, casting the cliffside path into shadow. Wind whipped around me, driving sleet against the mountainside. I crept forward. My foot slipped on a patch of ice, sending a shower of gravel over the edge.

Heart pounding in my ears, I froze and stared into the abyss, lips moving in silent prayer.

For the dozenth time since I summoned the Central Keystone an hour after waking with Joel's memories teeming in my head, I regretted giving meat, diamond healer's foci, elixirs, blankets, commodes, cups, and spoons priority, leaving winter clothing a distant second. I believed myself adequately equipped for the time being. Only four sealers, including Kevin, were cleared for sealing. One Stefan assigned to Mei. The other two were helping Kevin, first with the infirmary and now with a dining hall/temporary barracks combination. Since they rarely left the cave, winter clothing wasn't an immediate need until now.

The peal of thunder echoed through the mountains as lightning arced across the sky. I flexed my hands and resumed my journey.

Like a skater gliding across the ice, I moved up the trail.

Toe, heel. Keep the seals on your shoes active at all times. Don't slip unless you want to try flying without wings.

I should be eating supper with Terry while we discussed the nightmare I inherited from him, not setting a wardstone on a cliff with cold-numbed fingers.

But Tessa sensed two unknown individuals lurking nearby during the Central Keystone's maintenance. Pinpointing their location with the Central Keystone and my magics blanketing the area was like trying to hear a whisper during a horse race. Not that Grandfather took me to the races after the horses stampeded that time I lost control of my magic. Considering all my sealers were accounted for and our cave was in the opposite direction, I feared they weren't friendlies.

Under normal circumstances, spying on the Central Keystone redefined death wish. His guardians were Rainer's Seven; true demons lauded as heroes. Rainer ruled them with a kind smile and a blood-stained sword. They did not appreciate being spied on, especially when their gate was at half-strength. However, Tessa deemed standing guard while I worked with the gate more important than hunting them down, which meant I didn't know if they were assassins, spies, or two dumb kids who climbed the mountain on a dare.

Like many projects in recent days, wards jumped the queue. I packed every document I'd written, including my useless correspondence with Amit, and Mei's records into a crystal and sent it to Terry via Helen with a note apologizing for canceling the meeting I requested. Safety trumped testing Terry's reactions.

My magic seeped into the rock. Endellion once described the earth as alive with wild magic, flowing through thousands of streams, creeks, and rivers buried in the soil like our veins and arteries. I couldn't see it then. For all its bountiful fields, Vinetta was magically barren. No one tried such exercises on Marstallis — the only other world I'd visited. The Marstow attempted building three gates before Selim. All failed. All remained on Marstallis, lethal traps for unsuspecting sealers trying the same exercise I was.

When I found the stream that ran underneath our cave to the cliff, a ping sounded in my mind. I traced it from the edge of the cliff to the mountainside and grimaced. The trail would narrow there.

Sighing, I edged to the spot and knelt. Fire boiled from my fingertips as I forced magic through my aching hands, encased the fire in ice, and shaped the aes into a knife. I stabbed my blade into the mountainside and began the tedious task of carving out a hiding place.

All told, it took two hours to clean out a square hole, slide the wardstone into place, and enclose it inside a blood-keyed barrier. By the time I teleported back to camp, water spurted out of my shoes with each step, and I entertained thoughts of ignoring the meticulously planned bathing schedule Stefan posted near my waterfall and enjoying an hour long soak topped off with a glass of mulled wine. My thighs and back ached from squatting, complimenting the headache I'd nursed since I dismissed the Central Keystone. To think I started the day well-rested and relaxed for the first time in a week.

Rolling my neck, I passed through the barrier that kept the rain and winds out, but not the cold. The magic clung to my skin like a broken spider web. I flared my magic, brushing the other off.

Clouds rose from my mouth as I padded towards the small group clustered around the brick fire pit. Their voices rolled like waves crashing against a shore, but a privacy ward kept their words indistinguishable. Two pots simmered on a wrought iron window grate laid over the bricks. The smoke rose until it reached chest height then vanished. It was an interesting, albeit makeshift, cook stove that spoke to their scavenging skills and ability to make do.

Flatbread sizzled on a soapstone griddle beside two covered pots. The delicious aroma of Kevin's special soup filled the air. I closed my eyes and sniffed. Star anise, cloves, cinnamon, roasted onion and ginger, something citrusy, several other spices I couldn't identify, and slow cooked oxtails. Saliva pooled in my mouth and my stomach rumbled. Cooked meat appetizing?

A violent shiver tore through me as a pot lid rattled. Brandishing the lid like a shield, Kevin stirred the soup, his eyes never straying from the figure seated on a log beside Mei.

Navy blue aura with tri-colored flames, peculiar shade of red showing how much he hated the world in general, and occasional sparkles — Terry.