The Thorn of Dentonhill (2015) by Marshall Ryan Maresca

Author:Marshall Ryan Maresca [Maresca, Marshall Ryan]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Tags: Fantasy, Fiction
ISBN: 9780756410261
Google: ppSdoAEACAAJ
Amazon: 0756410266
Publisher: DAW
Published: 2015-02-02T11:00:00+00:00

Chapter 14

VERANIX LANDED ON the soft grass, just a short space from the carriage house. His magical shrouding, even in the red glow of the nearly full blood moon, left him unnoticed. At least, he didn’t hear a cry from any of the cadets, and he had to presume that the sight of some unknown thing soaring over the walls into campus would have gathered some attention.

He had gone too far, and had lost Colin. Had it been helping against Fenmere’s goons, or sneaking into the Turnabout? Or setting the constabulary on the neighborhood?

Or had it been simply that Colin had only been indulging him as long as he didn’t cause real trouble? He had never wanted Veranix to really go after Fenmere, really break the man. Colin was comfortable with how things were, and he had wanted Veranix to be comfortable with it too.

That wasn’t going to happen, not as long as Fenmere was alive.

Veranix slipped into the carriage house. Kaiana was reading under a dim oil lamp, Nevin’s journal lying casually at her feet. She looked up at his entrance, eyes darting nervously.

He realized he was still shrouded, and dropped the disguise. Kai startled, and then relaxed.

“You missed curfew bells.”

“I know,” he said. “I’m going to hold on to the cloak to get back into the dorms.”

“Fine by me,” she said. “Delmin came in, wanting to see the rope.”

“You let him?” Veranix wasn’t sure how he felt about that. He trusted Delmin, but he remembered his friend losing control the moment he had touched the rope.

“I didn’t let him touch it!” Kai laughed. “He just looked at it. He did ask an interesting question, though.”

“What’s that?”

“Why a rope and a cloak?”

“What do you mean?”

“Delmin seemed to think they were crafted with a very specific purpose in mind.”

Veranix hadn’t thought of that. “Did he have any idea what?”

Kai shook her head. “You’ve got to get out of here, you know.”

“Yeah, I know. Any luck with the decoding?”

She held up a scrap of paper for him to see. “This is the code key. You’ll be able to work out the rest of the journal with it.”

“You didn’t decode it?” he asked.

She scowled at him. “I figured out the key, Veranix. That was a lot of work.”

“I know,” he said defensively. “I appreciate it.”

“Good,” she said. “Anyway, you now have the tools to figure it out, but it’s up to you to do it. I am tired. Unlike you, I need my sleep.”

“I need mine, too,” Veranix said.

“Then go and get it,” she said. She started going around the carriage house, blowing out lamps. Veranix tucked the paper in the journal.

“Kaiana, really. Thanks for . . . for everything you do,” he said falteringly. He was about to tell her about what happened out in the neighborhood, what happened with Colin.

“Are you going to cry or something?” she asked mockingly. She blew out another lamp.

“Oh, shut it,” he said. The moment was broken, he didn’t want to get into it now. “A bloke tries to say how he feels.

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