Shattering Earth: An Urban Fantasy Adventure (Magic of Nasci Book 4) by DM Fike

Author:DM Fike [Fike, DM]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Avalon Labs LLC
Published: 2020-10-13T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 13

A CROWD WAITED for me at the homestead. I would have called it a welcome wagon, except it came in the form of Fechin and a few of his goons harassing me with a barrage of squawks. My absence had been noted and filed under “outrage.” The birds led me directly to a fuming Guntram as I crossed the threshold. An anxious Darby shifted behind him.

“Where have you been?”

I decided to match his irritated tone. “Out for a walk. Is that not allowed now?”

He pointed up to the circle of ravens swooping above him. “You should have alerted my kidama.”

“They should have been doing their jobs better,” I shot back. This increased their clamor to a new level. Darby shrunk back in horror at my defiance.

Guntram rose to meet me. “You always have a witty comeback for everything, don’t you, Ina?”

“Only as long as you keep slinking off to do your little private research. It’s not like I had anything better to do.”

“That’s where you are wrong!” Guntram proclaimed with an underlying ‘aha’ in his voice. “We have more golems to hunt.”

“What do you mean?” Darby asked.

Guntram brought her up to speed with the recent vaettur attacks. “And now not only do we have a possible air golem out there but a water one as well.”

I managed not to roll my eyes. I really wasn’t in the mood for another round of chasing windmills. “Why don’t you send ravens to scout the area? They’ll come back and tell us if they spot anything, and it will save us a lot of wasted time.”

Guntram went from irritated to absolutely furious in a heartbeat. His pupils turned milky with wind as he bellowed, “Because this is all I am allowed to do!”

Darby actually squeaked as she cowered away from Guntram, but I held my ground. I’d seen my augur this angry before, when I had decided to save a human from a golem-caused fire instead of rescuing a herd of elk. I’d been scared then, thinking it directed at me, but now I realized I was only the secondary target of his fury.

Guntram hadn’t finished his lecture. “The Oracle has deemed it necessary for me to stay off Mt. Hood. I can’t guard Nasci there, but that does not mean I cannot contribute.” He lowered his tone, rage melting away to determination. “I do not know if or when the golems attack, but if they do, I’ve discovered a…” he paused to search for the right word, “…technique that will help stop them for good. If I can do that, there is no need to protect Mt. Hood at all.”

Guntram slumped over, an emotional weight so heavy on his shoulders that it manifested itself in physical form. I knew exactly how he felt. The whole reason I’d decided to help Rafe was out of the same sense of helplessness. I also mourned for Guntram, since both the eyases he’d tried to help only let him down.

Not today. I swallowed a lump in my throat and raised my fist.

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