Broken Locks (Adelman Academy Book 3) by Shan Marin

Author:Shan Marin [Marin, Shan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-06-16T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirteen

The next morning was a flurry of activity. Jacen woke us just before dawn, barking orders and setting us to tasks. Tamas and Brond stored water in canteens, Kylan returned the cots to their place, while I collected food, dispersing it between several backpacks. Vessem checked and double checked his weapons, while Lady Burkele sat in the corner, muttering to herself as she stared at the unrefined eist.

Jacen pulled out the maps and confirmed our path.

“We’re taking those with?” Kylan dusted off his hands. “I thought they stayed with the garrison.”

“We have no choice,” Jacen said.

I peered over his shoulder, studying the grid-like structure of tiny squares spaced evenly through the area. “Are those marked points other garrisons?”

“Yes,” Jacen began rolling up the maps. “We’ll make our way from garrison to garrison.”

I peered up at the skylight above. Heavy clouds roiled in the sky, threatening rain. “How will we know which way is north? It’s hard to navigate without the sun.”

“I believe I might have a solution for that,” Lady Burkele said. “Help me up, young man.” Vessem hauled her to her feet, and she walked toward us, cradling the eist in her good arm.

“I am not merely a lady of means. I am also a mage.” She held out the eist. “My field of speciality is amplifiers and eist globes. I have bespelled the eist.” She gestured toward Jacen. “Take it.”

Jacen took the rock from her, and stared at it. “Bespelled how?”

The lady purred like a cat in the cream. “Hold it aloft and turn slowly.”

The look on Jacen’s face told me he felt like a fool, but he did as he was bid. As he turned, the eist began to glow softly and hum. Jacen’s eyes widened. “It’s warming up.”

“The glow would be brighter, had I the tools and time to refine the spell.”

“It’s cooling down again,” Jacen said, ending his revolution.

“The crystal will indicate when you are oriented northward,” the lady explained. She wrapped her good arm around herself. “I do not like that we are heading north instead of the more practical south-east, but I would also like to survive this trip. I will help as much as I am able.”

“Thank you, Lady Burkele,” I said, dipping into a curtsey. “Your assistance is greatly appreciated.”

“Let’s finish up,” Jacen said. “We gotta move while there’s light outside.”

As we broke up to return to our tasks, Kylan called to me. He held out a familiar shiny shape. Polves’s dagger. “This is yours, right? I found this under the bed you slept on. Want it back?”

I eyed the weapon. Touching it would remind me of Polves, and what he had become. I would remember what it felt like to drive the blade into his corpse. I shuddered. “Thanks,” I ground out, taking the dagger.

It would be a million times worse to be unarmed through the Rift. I strapped it into place under my skirt in the privacy of the bathrooms, and when I exited, I found everyone packed and ready.

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