Breathing Water: An Urban Fantasy Adventure (Magic of Nasci Book 2) by DM Fike

Author:DM Fike [Fike, DM]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Avalon Labs LLC
Published: 2020-07-27T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 13

GUNTRAM AND TABITHA got some rest before heading back out to the dunes. They decided to leave early in the morning, which meant Guntram roused me at a truly ungodly hour.

“Ina!” He slammed on my door. “Get up! I wish to speak with you before I leave!”

I pulled the scratchy wool blanket over my head, trying to ignore the straws poking me from all sides. “Just leave me a note!” I yelled back.

“Now, Ina!” His foot pounded on the ground outside the door and a gust of air whooshed through the cracks under the frame. I knew from experience he’d blow the door open and unleash all sorts of sigils on me if I didn’t get out of bed.

“Fine, fine, I’m coming,” I grumbled, hauling my achy body into an upright position.

I heard Tabitha doing the same to Darby with a few sharp knocks in the bedroom beside mine. “Up, Darby!” she barked. “The day is young and you’ve much training to cover.”

“Yes’m!” Darby’s reply came straight out of a military academy. As I yawned my way to the door, Darby scurried around her room. We entered the hallway at the same time—me in my rumpled clothes and gnarly hair, and Darby already in a fresh tunic and attacking her platinum blonde mane with a porcupine brush. She had the same dark circles under her lashes as mine but blinked through her weariness as she power walked to the kitchen.

As I limped to the counter and took a seat on a stool, Tabitha had Darby standing ramrod at attention, a drill sergeant commanding a cadet. “Just because I’m leaving doesn’t mean you can slack off. Run three full laps around the homestead for your strength training. Full speed, no jogging. Finish off with a swim in one of the ponds, five laps backwards and forwards. After that, I expect you to practice these.” She patted a stack of four thick tomes on a side table next to her. “Review them all before sunset.”

Darby’s eyes fell to the books, and she shifted one knee so her right leg bore most of her weight. “I haven’t gotten far with advanced fire sigils,” she admitted. “Maybe I should leave that to another day.”

Tabitha leaned into her face so quickly that even I flinched. “And maybe you should let yourself be devoured by vaetturs,” she countered in a low whisper, before yelling more loudly, “Stand up!”

Darby immediately locked her legs back in place, her spine as straight as an arrow.

“Review all the books,” Tabitha repeated. “Fire sigils twice. Is that understood?”

Darby jerked her head in a tight nod.

Tabitha then stalked over to the door and threw it open. “Begin!” she shouted, pointing outside.

Darby vaulted like one of Tabitha’s kidama deer out the front door, the darkness of pre-dawn swallowing her up. Then Tabitha shut the door in her wake.

I must have been gaping at Tabitha because she immediately scowled at me. “What are you staring at, eyas?”

I would have called her a curse word if Guntram hadn’t chosen that moment to waltz in the room.

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