Megan Sybil Baker by Wintertide

Author:Wintertide
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2012-11-26T20:02:32+00:00

CHAPTER 13

"When?" Khamsin bolted upright in her seat in the corner of Queenie’s Tavern. She dropped her spoon

into the steaming bowl of vegetable stew the Captain just placed before her.

The dusky man eased onto the bench across from her and put his own bowl on the mottled surface. The

line of his mouth was grim. The news he brought disturbed him greatly as well. He shook his head.

"Yesterday, or perhaps the day before, best I can tell. Heard it from a trader ship, a fast vessel that

docked this morning. They saw the smoke and fire from where they were, off the coast. Their Captain

took a look with a spyglass and it’s as I told you. Browner’s Grove’s near been destroyed. Taken by

Hill Raiders. And demons, some say."

"That’s impossible. It can’t be!" Her hand dropped to Nixa, seated by her side. The cat rubbed her ears

against Khamsin’s cold fingers.

"I’m sorry, Lady. Did you have kin there?"

"Not really. A friend, a very dear friend often had reason to travel through there and I hope…" her voice

trailed off as a numbness crept over her. Perhaps Rylan hadn’t returned because he couldn’t. Perhaps

he’d been in Browner’s Grove. Trapped.

She should have been there. She should have gone with him. She could have used elementals. Her

sword.

She stood abruptly. "I have to go."

"Go?" Queenie had ambled over, a basket of hot, braided breadsticks in her hand. "Go? But, child, ye

ain’t et nothin’, and…"

"I’m sorry, Queenie. But I have to. I have to talk to someone about this."

She threw her cape over her shoulders with a quick movement, then gathered Nixa into her arms. She

hurried out into the light rain that had been falling since midday. Any other time, she would’ve walked the

few short blocks to Ciro’s warehouse, even in the rain. She enjoyed the sensation of the mist on her skin.

And Nixa liked to prance around the puddles.

But not tonight. She stepped down a side alley and under the cover of the thick shadows, whispered the

spell that would transport her and the cat immediately back to the room on the top floor.

She blurted out the news as she materialized in front of the fireplace.

The old man sighed heavily. "The Witch Melande’s been known to cause trouble in Browner’s before.

But I thought, after the last time, well…perhaps we should’ve tried to interfere. But I’m wary, so wary of

tipping my hand, as they say in that Palace. If he realizes…"

"But he knows!" interrupted Khamsin. She released Nixa. The cat sought the warmth of Ciro’s hearth.

"He didn’t complete the Assignation but he knows I’m in Noviiya. The Demon he sent, it knew my name.

The time had passed for a calling but I felt it, Ciro, when it said it!"

Ciro pondered her words before speaking. "Time is growing short," he said, just as Tanta Bron had many

times told Khamsin. "You know as well as I that in less than two months the Land will begin its turn

towards First Thaw. That means it must pass through Wintertide. And you know what that portends."

She knew Wintertide, and all the tragedies it brought, only too well.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.