The Shaman's Curse (Dual Magics Book 1) by Meredith Mansfield

Author:Meredith Mansfield
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Published: 2014-07-04T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 34: Lonely Winter

Vatar lay back on his cot in the apprentice quarters at Uncle Lanark’s. He wasn’t sleepy yet, but there wasn’t much else to do. It wasn’t like going out would do him any good. No decent Caerean father would allow his daughter within arms’ reach of a barbarian, even now that he was a master smith. And while he enjoyed a cup of wine now and then, he didn’t really like getting drunk. It interfered with his work too much. No fun hammering on iron and steel with a pounding in his temples.

The problem with staying in was that it gave him too much time to think about his children. And miss them. Strange how he missed them so much when he hadn’t had a chance to spend that much time with them in the first place, but their absence had become a huge hole in his life. Good thing his first lesson with Cestus was tomorrow evening. Maybe Father would show up for a chess game. Anything to distract him from following the same thoughts in an endless circle. Maybe he could get a book or scroll to read in the evenings. Cestus had mentioned something about that last year, but Avaza had taken up his evenings—one way or another—back then. Now, he could use the diversion.

He raised himself on one elbow at a knock on the frame of the open door. “Oh, hello, Arcas.”

Arcas came in and sat on the other cot, now pushed up against the opposite wall. “There’s something I’ve wanted to talk to you about for a while, but this summer . . . what with Avaza and then your babies . . . well, it just didn’t seem like the right time to bring it up.” He cleared his throat. “What are your plans? You know . . . after this winter?”

Vatar swung his legs over and sat up. “I’m going back to the Dardani, of course.” Vatar’s brow furrowed. “Why?”

“Well . . . I’ve been thinking. You see, I don’t think there’s really enough work to keep you busy among the Dardani—not to mention the trouble of hauling raw iron and steel out there to work. And getting charcoal for the forge. That’ll be a problem too, you know.”

“That was the whole point when I became Uncle Lanark’s apprentice. That I’d be the Dardani’s first smith.”

“Yes,” Arcas said. “But you can do everything you need to during a couple of months at Zeda. In fact, that’s the only time it’d really be worthwhile. The rest of the time, you’d be isolated from most of the clans anyway. And there isn’t anything resembling a forge anywhere but Zeda.”

Vatar cocked his head to one side. “That’s all true, but . . .”

Arcas cut him off. “So I was thinking that it’d make more sense for you to come back to Caere in the winters. You could continue your advanced training.”

“But I don’t want to be away from my children that much.”

Arcas waved that aside.

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