Casted (The Stolen Scrolls Book 1) by Ashley Kucinsky

Author:Ashley Kucinsky [Kucinsky, Ashley]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: www.ashleykucinsky.com
Published: 2023-03-30T16:00:00+00:00

For the next three days we studied, we outlined, we mapped, we plotted, we practiced, and we categorized all of the information as succinctly as possible. It was grueling and tedious but I felt like we had covered everything possible to prepare us for the upcoming Trial. There wasn’t enough time for bickering or cattiness, either. We resembled a team, albeit an exhausted one.

“I’d rather just go home than spend any more time studying.” Ophida slumped into her palm. “How much longer?” I hated when she whined, but I couldn’t bring myself to be annoyed. It had been dragging on. Either we were prepared or not, so long as we came out ahead of the others.

My brain had spent hours absorbing the deep red walls behind the shelves of books, burning the port color into my retinas so I still saw it when I closed my eyes. Ophida had finally settled into more books, albeit at protest, and the other candidates were too preoccupied to pay much attention to anything else around them. I was able to sneak a few more chapters of the Geomancer, stuffing behind another title to avoid drawing attention. I was nearly to the end and determined to finish it before this Trial was over and we were no longer permitted in the library.

In the throes of its plot, with the two clans coming together, the tension was palpable through the thin pages of the book. The powerful men detected the mountains’ pleas of caution with the River Clan’s intentions, but the men had no choice but to proceed with the transactions. They remained vigilant as the day of the visit faded into night. I flipped each page furiously, devouring every word.

At the end of the visit, the River Chief and the Mountain Chief came to an agreement on their bartered goods. The Mountain Clan would haul pounds of grain and loaves of stoneground bread down the mountain, and exchange it for all the fresh river fish and strings of net their horses could cart back up. The Geos felt the earth trembling with unrest as the Chiefs bowed to one another, sealing a pledge between clans.

Seven days later, the Mountain Chief and all of his able-bodied clansmen loaded their broad beasts with sacks of grains and breads, until the animals’ backs swayed under the weight. After a day on the trail, the splintering streams tumbling through the rocks converged into sharp, foaming tributaries, falling to the greenery below. The Geomancers all froze in their tracks, pausing the line of Mountain clansmen. The horses pricked their ears in nervous anticipation. Two of the oldest Geos transmitted a silent message. The warning came too late.

My heart pounded furiously as I flipped page after page, crinkling the frail paper in my haste. The River Clan ambushed the Mountain Clan, stealing their goods and trapping the men in nets. The mysterious narrator laid out the action in painstaking detail, down to the cry of the hillside at the disturbance.

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