Feudlings Sneak Peeks

Prologue of Smoke continued

Will paced, because pacing was what he did best.

“You’re going to wear a path in your carpet,” Ward said, one eyebrow raised in amusement. “She rests now, Will. You can stop worrying.”

Will glanced at his baby sister curled up in a ball under the afghan on his couch. Her red and black curls were a wild mess across the throw pillow, and her little hand was tucked under her cheek. Although she was bigger than he remembered, she was still so tiny. So tiny to be able to burn kill spells. “How are we going to keep her from the Family? They’re not going to let her go as easily as they let me.”

Her dark eyes fluttered open. “I have to go back.”

Ward’s eyebrows shot up. “So…apparently she isn’t actually resting.”

Will frowned at him and went to kneel by the couch so he was eye to eye with Ari. The Edren Prodigy. The most powerful sorcerer in the world. And she had an impossible destiny. Kill or be killed to end a three-hundred-year war. “You don’t have to go back, Ari. You can stay with me. You’ll be safe here.”

Her bottom lip trembled. She closed her eyes, for just a second, and then opened them. There was a steely determination that he was positive wasn’t normal for a ten-year-old. “If I don’t go back, thousands and thousands of lives will be lost.”

“It’s their choice to fight, Ari. You aren’t forcing them to die because you refuse to be a part of their war,” Will said.

She yawned and sat up, shoving the curls away from her face. “If I don’t go back, Richard will hunt you. He’ll use everything against you he can—including Mom. He’ll hurt her, Will.”

“Yeah but Ari—I’m supposed to protect you.” Will hated that his voice broke. He was seventeen. He was supposed to be big and brave, not scared and confused.

Ari, though, seemed in that moment to be older than he was.  “If you go back there, Will, they’ll kill you. If I stay here, they’ll kill you. And everyone else here.” She laid a tiny hand against his cheek and searched his eyes. How could she possibly only be ten years old? “It has to be this way.”

And then her face brightened and she bounced on the couch. “But I don’t have to go back yet. Wanna play a game?”

Will looked from Ari to Ward, completely baffled. “A—a game?”

“Yeah! It’s like darts. Except with liriks.” Ari’s eyes danced as she scooted off the couch and hopped to her feet. She grabbed his hand and dragged him to the front door, running barefoot outside.

“Ari, you need shoes,” Will said, tugging her back up the stairs and into the house.

 She twitched her lips to the side in an adorably fierce little scowl before plopping onto the carpet to pull on her tennis shoes. “I keep telling mama that I need boots. Tennis shoes just aren’t made for fiery battles.” She pulled a face as she stuck her finger through a burned hole in the sole. “But she says I’m too little for boots.”

Will smiled. “I think she’s probably right, but we definitely need to get you better shoes.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Ari muttered, climbing to her feet. He’d just finished tying his laces when she grabbed his hand and pulled him outside, down the stairs, to the middle of the street where she paused and looked up at him expectantly.

“Okay…so how do we play this game?” He noticed several colonists were peeking out their windows, watching the tiny Edren Prodigy with terrified curiosity. Most of them hadn’t seen her since she’d attacked them—Will had kept her holed up in his living room while she recovered.

Ari dug her toe into the dirt, peeking through her curls at the people watching her. Shy and afraid. “Hey. They aren’t going to hurt you,” Will said, nudging her with his elbow until she looked at him.

“I’m not afraid of them hurting me. No one can hurt me but the Carules Prodigy.”

Well, not physically, maybe. Although that wasn’t true, either. She could be hurt. Just not killed. But it wasn’t a magical attack she was afraid of. It was emotional. She was used to people staring at her in fear. But that didn’t mean it didn’t hurt her every time. “How about if we play darts with a pretty spell instead of a lirik?”

Ari squinted at him. “What’s a pretty spell?”

Will shrugged. “Just, ya know, a spell that looks pretty and doesn’t hurt anyone.”

Ari’s big, brown eyes widened as she stared at him, her little mouth falling open. “There are spells that don’t hurt anyone?”

Oh mercy. His poor little sister. She thought being a sorceress meant causing pain and nothing more. “Yes. There are lots of spells that don’t hurt anyone. Spells that heal, spells that warm, spells that strengthen. You don’t know any of these?”

She planted her hands on her hips and raised an eyebrow. “Do these sound like the kinds of spells Richard thinks I’d need to know to kill everything?”

“Is Richard the one who trains you?” Will crouched on his haunches and dragged his finger through the dirt at their feet.

“Yeah. Well, I guess. He showed me how to throw a lirik. He said that was all the training I’d need.” She leaned closer to him, lowering her voice conspiratorially. “But I see some of the spells he does and I practice them when he doesn’t know.”

Will inwardly cringed as he wondered what kinds of spells she was learning from their grandfather while he wasn’t paying attention. “Well. I’m going to teach you all the spells. Not just the bad ones, but I’ll teach you those, too. Someone’s gotta teach you to defend yourself.”

She squealed, so much like a regular little girl that his heart swelled even as it broke a little. And she clapped her hands and bounced. “Really? You’ll train me?”

Will glanced around the colony. There was what was supposed to have been fair grounds or a stadium or something at the far end of the village. That would do. That would do nicely. “Yes, Ari. I will train you. But that means you have to come back and visit me all the time.”

She threw her arms around his neck. “I’ll come back every chance I can. I can do a saldepement. Mama said you are the only Edren she knows that can do it, too. We can sneak me in all the time!”

Will smiled. “That sounds perfect, Ari-girl. Now I’ll teach you a pretty spell, and you teach me how to play darts…with magic.”

She nodded, suddenly serious. “Okay. And then, Will?”

He tried to hide his smile. “Yeah, Ari?”

“Will you teach me to play football?”

 

Football, huh? For a tiny little sorceress? He’d give it a week before she’d be bored out of her mind. But who was he to tell her no? “Yep. If you want to play football, I’ll teach you everything I know.”