Smoke and Summons by Charlie N. Holmberg

Author:Charlie N. Holmberg
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Fantasy, Action & Adventure, epic, Romantic
Publisher: Amazon Publishing
Published: 2019-07-15T05:07:32+00:00

She dreamed of the astral sphere.

Kazen kept a model in his office. It was a globe about a foot and a half tall, made of ten rows of disks etched with rounded Noscon letters. Kazen used it to navigate the ethereal plane so he could summon new numina.

But in this dream—somehow, Sandis knew it was a dream—the globe looked different. It spun clockwise, faster and faster until the letters blurred together. It reminded her of the center of Rone’s amarinth. When Sandis reached for it, the globe slowed, and under her fingers she found one of the few Noscon words she could read.

Ireth.

When she woke, it was with the residual impression of fire. Not the hot, breath-stealing fire she’d experienced when she touched the Noscon writing in the citizen-records building, but a gentler, softer fire. A well-tended blaze that could easily be stoked to destruction.

What can I do for you? Her mind reached out even as it crawled toward consciousness. What do you need?

She shivered for the lack of a blanket. Rone had insisted she take the bed, though she would have gladly shared it. She’d given him all of the blankets for a pallet on the floor. Truth be told, she would have preferred the spot by the door. If she’d lain there all night, she wouldn’t have awoken to this awful, sinking sensation. She wouldn’t be wondering whether Rone had left in the night. Whether he’d changed his mind about helping her after his own father turned him away.

Holding her breath, Sandis quietly, carefully rolled away from the blue morning light streaming in through the window and studied the shadows on the floor. There was the mound of blankets, and—

She sighed. Rone was still there, one arm behind his head, his face slightly tilted toward her. He hadn’t left. She had a lead on Talbur Gwenwig’s location, and Rone hadn’t left. He had a boyish way of sleeping, his lips slightly parted, his dark eyelashes splayed against his skin. The large curls of his hair were mussed on one side, giving Sandis the urge to smooth her fingers through them to correct their shape.

She smiled.

They didn’t have many things, but Sandis gathered them together anyway and used Rone’s unconscious state as an opportunity to change back into one of his shirts and her loose slacks. He still hadn’t stirred, so she decided to find her way to the kitchen to get them both breakfast. There was just enough space for her to open the door without disturbing him. When she reached the kitchen, two priestesses, dressed in white and silver, were handing out bowls of oatmeal with cinnamon. Sandis thanked them profusely and took two—one for her and one for Rone to eat when he woke.

Breathing in the spicy steam, Sandis searched for a quiet spot to sit and eat her breakfast. The room was large enough to accommodate daily visitors, and double doors opened on either end of it. She heard a male choir singing in the distance and strained to hear, wondering if she could recognize the song.

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