The Onyx Vial (Shadows of The Nine Book 1) by Lampley Alexis

Author:Lampley, Alexis [Lampley, Alexis]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Alexis Lampley
Published: 2016-01-30T18:30:00+00:00

Chapter 18

Ariana and Asrea lay in a glittering field of black glass shards, shaded from the firefly sun by a willow thick with ember branches and gold-fleck leaves.

The glass was smooth just beneath the tree—the result, Asrea confided, of a season of work removing the shards and replacing them on their sides like pavers. A path of the same making meandered covertly through the field and curled into the deepest shadows of the cavern wall looming fifty strides away. It was a secret, Asrea had said. Ariana was the first person she'd ever showed.

“I have a surprise for you,” Asrea said, rolling onto her side and propping herself on her elbow.

Ariana raised a brow. “What kind?”

“Something to lift your spirits.”

Unless it was her portal books or a re-enrollment letter from Ruekridge, Ariana doubted Asrea had anything that would do the job. She yawned, too aware of the fitful, worry-laden sleep this mess had caused her. She felt so… stranded.

The sound of rain hadn’t helped matters. It had reached her in the middle of the night, the normally calming sound now an eerie, taunting entity that prodded her with spindly fingers and whispered life into her fears.

She sat up, turned her thoughts to the moment at hand—where there was a semblance of peace and security.

“I know you’re disappointed about the portal book,” Asrea said. “But you aren’t completely cut off from home.”

“What do you mean?”

“You can still send a letter to your family. Let them know you’re alive.”

Ariana shook her head. “You said last night you don’t have far-reaching Postal quills in Bolengard. And we didn’t find mine.”

Asrea smiled widely, the shimmering red-gold light from the tree reflected like stars in her bright, grey eyes. “True. But we aren't in Ionia. Postal quills aren't the only way.” She pulled a small, chain-mesh bag from the satchel of food she’d brought for them.

Corners of the object inside the bag created little pyramids in the surface of the mesh. The spaces between the chains were too small to see what it was, but it wasn’t a postal quill.

“My mother isn’t getting on well with the Heledian Council -– that man she was speaking with yesterday, Master Whelin? He’s one of them.” She untied a knotted cord at the top of the mesh bag. “They overwork my father, and when he’s topside, they overwork us in his stead.”

Ariana felt again the guilt of bemoaning a life so much better than Asrea’s, when the girl, despite her circumstances, radiated such genuine positivity. If Ariana could see through Asrea’s eyes for just one day, what would it be like? Would she have been able to her mother’s decision with grace, instead of running away?

“So it wasn’t much to convince my mother to let me borrow…” Asrea pulled the cord with a flourish, “these.”

With a metallic twinkling whoosh the mesh slumped like heavy drapery, pooling on the ground around a square cage the size of a shoebox. A clump of something shiny wriggled inside.

“I've got to return

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