Rise of the Seer by Brandon Barr

Author:Brandon Barr [Barr, Brandon]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-10-24T23:00:00+00:00

WINTER

How was it that her spirit could be crushed so easily? She’d done it. Killed the toad and saved the bird. That was a victory. Proof that her gift worked. But Aven’s words had stolen her confidence. She wanted to believe what Leaf had told her. She wanted to embrace her destiny and save others. But she had so many doubts, so many fears.

Her brother thought she was so certain, but the truth was much more complex. He didn’t know the depths to which she questioned the Makers. He seemed to think she closed her eyes and simply followed. But her myriad questions quietly stalked her every day, manifesting themselves in a thousand different forms.

Aven said the Makers had given her a flawed gift, as if she hadn’t noticed it herself. The truth was that she saw how everything was flawed. She saw clearly the decay inherent in everything around her. From the spring leaves that time would inevitably turn yellow and dead, to the wrinkles at the corners of a person’s eyes that spoke of creeping age that would not be denied. All things grew old and wore down, no matter what any of them did.

Even those she saved would still die someday.

She and Aven were only seven when their baby brother Root was delivered stillborn. It was the first time she grasped the uncertainty of life. The death of her baby brother affected her in ways she still didn’t fully grasp. Afterwards, she never saw the world the same way again. When they buried his small form, she held Aven’s hand tighter, knowing there was no way she could hold it forever. Both of them would die in time.

The temple she was trying to construct to bridge the divide between the goodness she’d felt when Leaf held her and the death she saw all around her was in danger of collapse. Every answer only created more questions.

She was tired of questions.

The only thing she could cling to, to keep her head above the chaotic waters of the unknown, was her memory of the awe and love she had experienced in the presence of the Maker. It often did not seem like enough, but it had to be. She had nothing else.

They had walked while these thoughts went through her mind and now the bleak walls of the fortress were near. Five soldiers waited at the gates. Instinctively her hand moved to the vial holding Whisper. Surely, the Makers would conceal Whisper. They had kept the insect alive this long, far beyond the time any butterfly should have survived.

The guards’ ugly expressions told her she needed to worry more about herself. She hid her fear behind a calm face, bracing herself for their harassment, but none said a word. They simply stood aside and let the two of them pass.

Inside the gates a man dressed in strange clothes beckoned to them. He was tall with a trimmed beard. A stylish green cloak was draped over his shoulders, held together in the front by a red jeweled clip.

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