Circulus de Potentia (Magicae Mathematica Book 2) by Jim West

Author:Jim West [West, Jim]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2015-06-27T07:00:00+00:00

21 – Dust and Shadows

A tall man in tattered robes stepped down from a higher limb to greet Alex. He looked as if he made a constant effort to hold himself up. Although he appeared in charge, it seemed that if he forgot to stand straight for even a second, his shoulders might stoop and never recover.

“I am Limaj,” he said. “My girls and I are happy to offer you a place to sleep and protection from the forest.” His voice was deep and kind, but his eyes were hard. He was difficult for Alex to read, but she imagined living with the continuous threat of attack from wolves and tribesmen would do that to anyone. She wondered if his dark brown eyes had been softer once, and thought she recognized a similar hardening in the edges of Nyliaj’s eyes. For a moment she was sad. Alyal’s eyes were still bright and cheerful. How long would it take for the hardships of survival to rob her of that?

“Thank you, Limaj,” Nosaj said, stepping forward. “We are grateful for everything you’ve done for us.” He spoke calmly, like a leader. Alex was impressed.

“Are you banished from the city, too?” Alyal said with an innocent smile on her face. Alex thought of how her father would scoop her up after returning from a trip while she besieged him with a thousand excited questions. She wanted to throw her arms around the little girl and play with her.

Maya squatted down and took the girl’s hands in her own. “No,” she said with equal excitement. “We’re on a….”

“We are messengers,” Nosaj said in the same even tone as before.

Maya stood back up, her excitement quelled.

Limaj stared at Nosaj, who did not look away. She felt as though the man was staring at all of them individually without actually doing so. His eyes narrowed and Alex became aware of an invisible line separating her party from their rescuers. Finally, Limaj spoke.

“Your business is your own,” he said. “I intend you no harm. It is just not uncommon to find the city banishing children with their parents. It is fortunate we crossed paths. We have made our own way in this world and we are proud of what we have accomplished, we are populi ad pulvis.”

“People of the Dust? Wait,” Alex replied with surprise.

“Yes. I have learned my share of the magical language. Unfortunately I was never able to grasp the numbers portion to be able to harness magic. In a way I feared it. But that was a long time ago. Now those fears have changed to wolves and tribesmen. Yet we haven’t seen tribesmen in a very long time, and until tonight we had not seen wolves in some time, either.” Limaj said.

“The wolves are awfully scary.” Alex said, taking a spot to sit along the branches.

“Long ago the tribesmen enslaved the wolves of the forest. Now they serve the chiefs as both spies and scouts.”

“Why do you refer to yourselves as people of the dust?” Alex asked.

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