Gryphon Rider Academy: Year 3: Storm Front (A Young Adult Fantasy) by Elise Hennessy

Author:Elise Hennessy [Hennessy, Elise]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Flutterbye Trail Press
Published: 2023-01-23T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 22

Winter Winds

We began new skirmishes with the Rathi that next morning, and no true progress was made as the days turned into weeks and the air chilled further each day. Even Magnus the Grim’s wrathful impatience couldn’t break the impasse between us.

We were entrenched on either side of a half day’s sailing or a couple hour flight. Between attacks initiated by either side, I caught some must-needed rest. After Ari and I finally felt recharged, the feeling was chased by the same boredom that’d taken root when we had first joined the Seventh, waiting for something to happen.

At least this time I had someone who was reliably there for PT in the morning, dueling or endurance training in the afternoon, or ready to sit with me in the evening to catch up in the shadows around the squire puddle’s fire pit. I had a lot to tell Weslecker, starting with the magical token from Lord Orion and how I’d lost it.

“You’d think our king would have basic manners,” he’d said, scowling.

While I agreed, I was happy to say that it seemed the king had listened after I was uncovered as the Chosen of Orion. Weslecker patted me on the back, seeming to accept the title the moment I told him about it.

He was a little more incredulous about Revna’s egg and where it came from, then downright skeptical when I also pulled out the magestone Cherin had given me. “My mentor said the best magestone to use in emergencies is the speed one,” he said.

“Well, Ari can’t use it anyway. Why don’t you take it? You can use either, depending on the situation,” I suggested, giving him the one enchanted for endurance while I kept my healing magestone in case of an emergency.

“My life and training have been downright boring compared to yours,” he admitted.

“I think you mean normal,” I said. I was happy to lean into his side and listen to his cultured voice as he recounted his training and recruitment into Strike Team One.

He was also around when we finally had a mail drop, and I had two letters from Mateo delivered atop a box from Mother and another lengthy letter from Odalis. At least she decided not to send it through a Mercy this time, which my heart thoroughly appreciated, but I was nervous when Weslecker noticed the first two letters and who they were from.

I opened the box first and passed around one of the bags of mallows, enjoying the burst of sweetness after a long diet of rations and fish. Then I opened Mateo’s letters and tried to read the first one.

“This is nonsense,” I muttered, letting Weslecker have a look. The ink was smeared, making his handwriting look like vague shapes.

“Huh, no. It’s a cipher,” he said. He lay the second letter flat and found the cipher code hidden within a dull message about how he’d been spending his days helping his father in court.

Weslecker began copying down a new letter from the first one.

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