Prodigal Steelwielder (Seals of the Duelists Book 3) by Jasmine Giacomo

Author:Jasmine Giacomo [Giacomo, Jasmine]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Cazar Fiction
Published: 2014-10-22T07:00:00+00:00

The Mystery of Hexbirds

Tala had barely left campus with Doc Theo for the Kheerzaal battle when the sky darkened. Odjin glanced up with trepidation, expecting that the campus would be the next logical target, but he saw only a massive mystery of hexbirds, swirling through the air and calling like fury.

Sabella stared up at them with trepidation. “What is that?”

Kipri answered her. “It’s only hexbirds. They live here on our campus. Legend says that they used to be crows, but too much exposure to magic changed them, made them smarter.”

The look on Sabella’s face seemed more than curiosity, and Odjin gave her a longer look. She seemed almost… jealous?

Diantha backed toward the Chantery doors. “If there’s nothing further, I’ll return to work. With Doc off to battle like a crazy young man, I’m responsible for all the students on campus.”

Sivutma took a few steps forward, neck craning to study the bird cloud overhead. “Something’s wrong. I think—” She hastily backed up again. “Have hexbirds ever attacked anyone?”

Odjin snorted. “Only when they refused to hand over the food they were hiding.” But the mystery had indeed begun to swirl downward, directly toward where he and the others stood on the Chantery steps. “Just in case, though, maybe we should go back inside too. Maybe the battle is upsetting them. Sints only know. The birds really are a mystery.”

No one smiled at his pun as they collectively turned toward the Chantery doors, but when Odjin glanced over his shoulder, he was stunned at how fast the hexbirds had caught up. They had descended to a level even with the second story of the Chantery. He had lain in one of those rooms up there on his last day as a student. The bitter memory flashed through his mind, then gave way to uncertainty and not a small amount of fear. “Run!” He bolted forward, shoving Sivutma ahead of him, but before he could reach the Chantery’s open double doors, hundreds of hexbirds swirled around him, a tight, black cyclone of feathers and raspy voices.

The world stretched. He was still running, wasn’t he? Why hadn’t he reached the Chantery doors yet? He felt Sivutma’s back under his palm—or was she above him? Suddenly, he wasn’t sure. The world seemed in flux. The birds continued to swirl past him, and he wondered where they were going. Were they filling the Chantery? Had something happened inside? A flurry of emotions pressed against him, and he called to them, holding to his even center, calming the heat in his beads.

That even center shattered in utter confusion as the birds finally dissipated, leaving him in bright, angled sunlight much different than the daylight he had just been standing in. Only a narrow strip of light reached him from between the tall buildings. He fell against Sivutma, who had tripped over Kipri, who lay next to Sabella. Just past the Corona girl, Diantha lay sprawled in the dust. And crouched against one side of a nearby building was a wiry, grizzled man: Odjin’s anima taskmaster and the bane of his existence for a full season.

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