Squire of War by M. H. Johnson

Author:M. H. Johnson [Johnson, M. H.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-03-15T22:00:00+00:00

33

A polite knock on her door and Jess answered it so fast Malek was left blinking, Jess having awoken with the first chirping of the birds as the sunrise touched the forest-lined horizon a fiery crimson, feeling, for the first time in days, a reason to greet the day with a smile. For just behind Malek was Alex, grinning back, holding a number of tomes, both of them making a quick entrance, with no trace of students or professors darting by her quarters at that hour.

Hair tousled, a sleepy expression still upon his face, Jess could tell Alex had hardly slept a wink.

She grinned at her friend, who blushed back. “Jera wore you out?”

Alex blinked, speechless, Malek bursting into laughter. “I can see she’s determined to savor life’s sweetness, so close you both came to losing it altogether.”

Alex chuckled softly, shrugging his shoulders. “My heart was heavy, I will admit it, thinking of the lives lost, but yes. In the end, Jera talked me back to my senses and reminded me that some things are too precious to let melancholy destroy, and if she can forgive me, perhaps I can learn to forgive myself.”

“It really wasn’t your fault,” Jess softly insisted. “We have vipers in our midst, unbeknownst to all of us. And for all that I am but a supplicant now, I would be by my master’s side in a heartbeat, trying to root this evil out.”

Alex nodded. “I have no doubt. And though it measures to insignificance compared to the boon you granted me, I hope these tomes can at least provide you with a few hours distraction. Malek, for his part, managed to smuggle a fair number of meat pies from sympathetic kitchen staff, for all that they seem preoccupied by their own troubles.”

His befuddled stare of moments before had been replaced by the keen gaze of a brilliant scholar. “It’s time I made sure that you both understand exactly what you are getting into. Make sure you both know what it is to catch glimpses of dream, and live to tell the tale.”

Alex held up a placating hand before Jess could interject. "You’ll read a number of tales with common themes. Questing knights traveling through a strangely quiet valley with nary a settlement in sight, only to see what appears to be a majestically shining palace in the distance. A palace that, as one approaches, turns out to be but a dilapidated tragic ruin; its former glory but a mirage. Yet were that same knight to give it one last forlorn look as it fades back into the distance it would appear a glorious, pristine castle once more."

Alex's voice pitched low and solemn. "And we all know the grandest stories depicted in plays or told by over campfires. Tales of those rare souls who could do more than just capture sight of a lost kingdom's forgotten glory in the distance. Stories of how brave fools with a certain knack, much like a bard's flare for conjuring

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