Calor by J.J. Fischer

Author:J.J. Fischer
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Christian, Science Fiction
ISBN: 9798886050257
Publisher: Enclave Publishing
Published: 2022-08-04T00:00:00+00:00

The storm continued into the late hours of the evening. Lord Adamo had ventured outside and returned coated in white, announcing it was now blizzarding.

“What about Draven?” Bear asked. “He can’t be far behind us.”

“He’ll be as marooned by this storm as we are. But the turn in the weather is to our benefit. The snow is thick enough to cover our tracks.”

“What’s one more enemy?” Bas asked with a glare that also encompassed both Cassius and me. “The list grows longer every day. I’m enjoying contemplating all the new potential ways of dying.”

Lord Adamo returned the glare. “If you must do so, Bas, then do so quietly.”

We had retreated into the old library, leaving the horses hobbled in the great hall, as Lord Adamo called it. Cassius had got a fire going, and with the door to the library closed, it filled the space with a pleasant warmth, banishing the chill from outside. I was thankful Lord Adamo had kept my old cloak in one of the saddlebags, for my new one was soaked. I edged as close to the fire as I dared, Jewel sprawling beside me.

“What makes that storm so dangerous?” I asked Lord Adamo as he lowered himself to the ground on the other side of Jewel. I had discovered that the wolf liked to be scratched around her ears and on her belly—but not near the scar. “We never had such happenings in Nulla. And I saw—well, I thought I saw rainbow-colored lightning—”

“You saw correctly.” He brushed the snow from his hair, removed his gloves, and extended his hands toward the fire. “It is not ordinary lightning. The bolts seek the flesh of humans—especially alters. They are drawn to the magic that courses through our veins. To remain exposed in such a storm is to tempt death.”

No wonder he and the others had been in such a hurry to reach shelter.

The lord continued, “I have seen very little of Lethe, so I cannot speak for that country, but many parts of Memosine were touched by the same magical forces that created the alters. There are animals capable of extraordinary things, like Jewel. Trees that do not grow in the same way as ordinary plants. Every year on the moors, near the beginning of spring, the wildfires come, engulfing the heather in an inferno that can burn for days. And in the ancient places, where people from the Old Times or the world-that-was lived before us . . .”

He rubbed his beard thoughtfully. “Suffice it to say, Memosine boasts as much beauty as it does barrenness. And as much mutability as permanence, for a man can frequently return to something he thought he knew with vivid clarity, only to find it altered beyond all recognition.”

I felt an odd sensation like a heated beverage—tea, perhaps, or even coffee—gliding down my throat. It wasn’t just the fire warming me. It was something about Lord Adamo himself. I remembered Cassius’s challenge.

If he trusted you half as much as you

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