The Silver Crystal by Ryan Lanz

Author:Ryan Lanz [Lanz, Ryan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Applebury Press
Published: 2021-10-24T22:00:00+00:00

31

That’s her. Morrith spotted her from across the marketplace. She looked like she’d missed a week’s worth of sleep, and her eyes were puffy, but there was no mistaking her. He’d seen her hovering over Bendrish at the cave right after her run-in with the boar. She looked like an older version of the girl. There was no question she was her mother. He had an eye for that sort of thing, oddly enough. Some might call it a gift.

The coincidence made his skin tingle. Just yesterday morning, he’d handed off the tear-streaked brat to an associate of his to be carted back to Abalreen for safe keeping, and here he was bumping into mother dearest. He could hardly believe his luck. Whether it was coincidence or fate, the end result was the same.

How should I go about this? There was the direct approach and a slightly less direct approach. Probably the safe thing to do would be to wait until she was out of the town, on the way back to whatever backwater campsite her people had now, and then make his move. That way, he wouldn’t have to deal with any townspeople interfering.

She moved to the next aisle of goods, and Morrith followed her. She never had a chance to see him because he wove through the people at the market, bumping shoulders and shoving people out of the way. They cried and yelled and said things to his back, but none of that bothered him. Just things in his way.

Once he reached her, he grabbed her arm. “Just the person I’m looking for. We need to have a talk.”

Her eyes took a moment to focus, but once she did, she narrowed them and dropped the bandage she held. She held up the free hand and shoved it toward him, stopping a finger-length before his chest. Morrith shut his eyes as wind whipped up, pelting his face with dust harder than any sandstorm he’d seen. He threw up an arm to shield what he could.

He vaguely noticed people around him scattering. Items flew off tables and smacked into the people’s backs who were trying to flee. Many looked wide-eyed around them, trying to find the source. Morrith made his grip harder even as he squeezed his eyes shut. The pressure increased.

His fingers slid down to the end of her arm. If he needed to, he’d pull out his long knife, but he hoped he wouldn’t. Killing her would be such a waste. He had no problem taking a life, but he liked to think of ways to use it first.

Bracing himself by putting a foot backward, he reached his hand back and slapped her across the face. For a moment, the wind stopped, and he thought that was that, until her head whipped back around, a red mark already forming on her right cheek.

She raised both hands, and with a screaming sound in his ears, he flew backward and landed on top of a table, cracking it in half.

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