Tapestry of Dark Souls: Ravenloft: The Covenant (Ravenloft The Covenant Book 5) by Elaine Bergstrom

Author:Elaine Bergstrom [Bergstrom, Elaine]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
ISBN: 9780786964703
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast Publishing
Published: 2013-04-16T00:00:00+00:00

In the weeks that followed, Ivar and Jon worked in the winery, nursing the vats of purple and amber through the final days of fermentation. At night, they would study together in the cavern. Finally, with the last of the amber wine corked and shipped throughout Tepest and into Nova Vaasa, the deep purple blends sealed in their aging casks, they turned more of their time to Jon’s education.

Jon proved a brilliant apprentice. The speed and accuracy with which the boy memorized simple spells made Ivar certain that his pupil could master more difficult ones almost as easily. Nonetheless, the boy was obsessed with light and fire. Any spell dealing with these held his interest. Others, no matter how well he learned them, did not. Yet, Ivar told himself, the boy had managed to summon the wolves, a difficult spell under ordinary circumstances, nearly impossible given the scarcity of the beasts in these lands.

“Tell me the words you used to bring wolves to my daughter’s aid,” Ivar finally ordered.

Jon hesitated. Ivar sensed that the boy thought of lying, then decided he would be caught. “It wasn’t my doing,” Jon admitted, refusing to meet his master’s eyes. “I’d been wandering the woods when I noticed them trailing me.” He described the wolves and went on. “When I heard the girls run by, screaming, I went to the clearing and saw Sondra. The wolves followed. I … I spoke to them and they seemed to listen. I honestly don’t know if that was a spell.”

“Sondra said you summoned them.”

“I didn’t tell her that, or deny it, either.”

“Nor did you deny it to me when I questioned you.”

“I knew enough fire spells to destroy the goblins. I would’ve done so had the wolves not attacked first.”

“Do you care for Sondra? Is that why you lied?”

“I’m too young to care for anyone, but when I saw her in the woods, facing those things, I admit …” His voice trailed off uneasily.

“She faces danger well, doesn’t she?”

Jonathan nodded.

“Most of the young men in Tepest are married by the time they’re seventeen. I’d give permission for you to court Sondra, should you choose to ask.”

His pupil grew so flustered that Ivar knew his instinct had been correct. Jon answered, “Not yet.”

A sensible reply, and one that strangely saddened Ivar, for he longed for one of his own blood to teach. It was said that he had obtained his skills because his father possessed them. Ivar had never known the man. Instead his mother had helped him with his first tentative castings.

Ivar stretched and yawned. “I feel weary,” he told the boy, as he prepared to leave. “Go on with your lesson. You’re more than able to manage on your own.”

Jon remained alone in the cavern, working with little determination to magically erase the words on the parchment in front of him. He saw no use for the spell. It wouldn’t protect him, wouldn’t give him knowledge, and seemed to subtract rather than add to his power. He suspected that Ivar had required him to learn it as a sort of discipline.

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