The Arcane Ward by Jeffrey L. Kohanek

Author:Jeffrey L. Kohanek [Kohanek, Jeffrey L.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781949382013
Publisher: Fallbrandt Press
Published: 2018-09-06T04:00:00+00:00

21

A Piece of Furniture

Brandt focused on Master Alridge while she traced symbols on the black wall. Although her appearance still distracted him occasionally, he no longer found himself staring at the shapely woman. He couldn’t decide if it was because he had grown used to her looks, valued her knowledge as an instructor, or if he cared what his fellow wardens thought of him…at least one of them.

He glanced to the side and found the others watching in rapt attention. Quinn sat between her roommate, Chuli, and her brother, Everson. All three were busy drawing their own version of each rune and marking it with the related augmentation. Brandt looked down and found his paper blank. Taking notes had never been his thing. He, instead, relied upon his memory. If he tried, if he focused, he knew he would recall every detail. Accordingly, he stared at the board and drank it all in.

He immediately recognized the two runes his parents had taught him – Illuminate and Reduce Gravity. His parents had considered the augmentations unlikely to cause trouble. Of course, Brandt and Cassie had proven them wrong.

The other runes they had covered over the past four weeks included Increase Gravity, Animate, Brittle, Elastic, Power, Truth, Enlarge, Courage, Fear, Heat, Cool, and Shockwave. Today, the woman added another new rune to the board, appearing like a series of intersecting diamonds. When she finished drawing it, she turned toward her students and tapped on the rune with the chunk of glowstone in her hand.

“This is the last rune known to us – one we must thank Master Firellus for sharing.”

Brandt frowned at the oddness of the statement. Sharing? he sent to his sister.

Her reply rang loud and clear, Be quiet.

“All augmentations carry risk, some more than others.” Alridge’s glare carried a more serious weight than normal. “The Stamina rune can empower a person with a seemingly endless amount of energy. What it truly does is accelerate your ability to recover by sapping your natural reserves. If you push yourself too hard while charged with a Stamina augmentation, you will eventually hit a wall and collapse. We have seen people require as much as four days rest before they regain normal functions. As a result, I call this augmentation the last hope, only to be used when no other option will suffice.”

She stood back and examined her work. Drawn with the pale blue of glowstone, runes and their names covered twenty feet of black slate walls. Each rune marked a potential use for Chaos, each symbol displaying the true form of the magical effect it represented.

“These augmentations are your tools, whether used in combat, to get out of a tight spot, or to enhance some mechanical invention. You must memorize these runes and maintain a firm understanding of what they can do…and of the potential side effects of each.”

In the periphery, someone to Brandt’s right shifted as a hand rose in the air.

“Yes, Everson?” Master Alridge asked.

“Where did we discover these runes, and why aren’t there more of them?”

The woman stared directly toward Brandt and Cassie.

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