The Heart of Death by L. Ryan Storms

Author:L. Ryan Storms [Storms, L. Ryan]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Fantasy, Action/Adventure, General Fiction, Fiction - YA, Romance, Teen, Kids, Young Adult
ISBN: 9781732849228
Google: U17bzQEACAAJ
Publisher: Lorraine Storms
Published: 2020-10-20T12:19:24+00:00

****

Alesh was positive we needed the advice of an old friend from another village a hundred miles to the southwest, which meant…

…another journey.

I should have been grateful that Alesh knew of someone who might be able to guide us further on our quest, but the only emotion I could dredge up was utter exhaustion. I was near certain I’d already traveled more of Liron’s miles than any bird, and they had wings. When this was all over—if indeed it was ever over, I planned never to go farther than my own two feet could travel ever again.

“Are you sure you can help him?” I asked. Alesh inspected the wound on Niles’s leg. Though his brow remained creased in pain, Niles was deep in a medicine-induced sleep, or I wouldn’t dare speak so openly. I’d waited until Brigantino and Quinn left to take care of supplies for the upcoming journey before bringing my concerns about the talisman to Alesh.

Alesh placed his fingers on the healthy skin of Niles’s thigh, then moved downward to his calf, as though feeling for something only he could detect.

“Yes, I can help him.”

“What I mean to say is you haven’t noticed anything…strange with your abilities since…well, in these last few weeks?”

He turned to observe me, dark eyes watching closely, reading my face. I resisted the urge to bite my lip, trying not to show the nerves I felt when thinking about the torn veil and the lapse in my own abilities.

Sure, I’d saved Quinn on the sands. The talisman worked, but what choice had I been given? Without my intervention, Quinn would have died. If my abilities had killed him instead of healed him, it might have been a small mercy given how he suffered.

“What has gone wrong with your gift?” Alesh asked pointedly.

I debated how much information to reveal. Now that he knew who we were, Alesh seemed warm, welcoming, and ready to assist, but why had he forced Quinn into the ring to begin with? Why not just help us from the start? His change in demeanor made me wary. I swallowed, then told him the truth, mostly because I couldn’t think of a conceivable lie fast enough.

“There’s been several instances when I’ve gone to grow something, to nurture a plant to life for food on our journey, and instead of growing, it blackened and died.”

Alesh breathed in sharply.

“Your talisman, it gives control of life, yes?”

I nodded.

“You maybe used too much life, too quickly? Aged the plant too fast?”

I shook my head. “No. I did that once before when…well, I’ve done that before—aged someone, I mean. It’s not the same. This was different. This was the plant dying before it had even matured. It just…withered away to nothing.”

Alesh blinked and turned his attention back to Niles, laying one palm on his thigh above where the undead had shredded the tissue and one palm at his ankle below where most of the damage had been done.

“How many times has this happened?” he asked me, closing his eyes.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.