The Past's Skybound Bane (The War Eternal's Ashes Book 2) by Samuel Simons

Author:Samuel Simons [Simons, Samuel]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Eternity River Publishing
Published: 2023-02-05T16:00:00+00:00

Melody approached the old chapel as swiftly as Ticker would let her. He had taken the lead again, preceding her around each corner despite the fact that the boy Olyen had run ahead for most of the way without incident.

He needn’t have bothered. Laventon’s people and its occupiers alike stood in the streets, staring with astonishment at the omnipresent light which flooded the city, obliterating all shadow. Others shielded their eyes as they gazed at the blue-tinted brightness rising from Laventon and filling the skies. Far above, a blue circle chased with arcane runes enveloped a brilliant point. A maelstrom surrounded the magic circle, gathering the inward-swirling energy fed to it by a funnel of cyan light.

Melody missed a step and her heart skipped a beat. Something had changed in the world. She felt the arrival of the Ashtender on the mortal plane. The late afternoon sun dropped away to the south, but the sky barely darkened, for the pillar of light and the blindingly bright point above Laventon supplied as much illumination as the sun-comet had.

Olyen waved the two over from near a hole in the side of a dilapidated rectangular building. Melody, her legs weak and her bleeding knee barely supporting any weight, braced herself on Ticker’s shoulder as the two hurried across an open square whose cobblestones were arranged into a mural of a fire-winged bird.

At a glance, Melody took in the damaged but lovingly painted art of the Firebrand and Ashtender on the chapel’s grimy wall, the small belltower added on to the back, and the handcrafted covers over the shutterless windows which let light into the building. Her heart ached. Without the Church’s help, believers in this far-flung town had fashioned a home from nothing, and now the Church seemed powerless to free them from their oppressors.

“The quakes come from under there.” Olyen peered into the chapel’s empty interior. “I’ll go first!”

“No. You’re staying out here.” Melody stooped to be on the boy’s level. “I need someone to watch out, make sure none of the fiend’s allies come to surprise me.”

“I’m not stupid,” Olyen retorted, crossing his arms and trying to look down his nose at Melody. “I know you’re keeping me busy with a pretend job.”

“All right. Then please understand that I’ll only be able to fight these fiends properly if I don’t need to protect anyone at the same time.”

Olyen gave her a long look. Then he unfolded his arms. “Okay. But you promised my father gets to talk to you, so you have to come back alive.”

“That’s the plan,” Ticker muttered, shoving past Melody to scan the inside of the building with a practiced gaze. Dust drifted in the stark beams of light which shone in the windows and through cracks in the walls and ceiling. The rest of the room was filled with deep shadow in contrast to the brightness on all sides. “Bastards’ll be underground, as always. The better ta control their magic.”

“The stairwell’s in the back corner to the left, behind the old altar,” Olyen called from outside.

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