Blackstaff Read Free Page A

and Chaid started laughing and—”
    Tsarra asked, “Warm enough, Tarik?” By the gods, the boy never paused for breath!
    The Tethyrian nodded, and forged on with his report on what he had found in the forest. The child came from much warmer climes, and was spendng his first winter north of Zazesspur. Accordingly, he wore heavy wool robes and a cloak, even though Tsarra made do with her hunting leathers and a light travel cape. Tarik and his brother Chaid al Farid al Fuqani were both dusky-skinned Tethyrians with jet-black hair, and both were years yet from their first beards. While Tarik wore his straight hair in a small ponytail, Chaid’s curls rivaled Tsarra’s, though shorter. The only other difference between the twins were their eyes—Tarik’s were a deep cobalt blue, while Chaid’s eyes were a startling bronze color with flecks of the same cobalt blue.
    Tsarra and Tarik finally broke through a bramble and into an open clearing. Tarik ran straightaway to his brother, who sat cross-legged at the center of the clearing, his back to them. Tsarra noticed Danthra the Dreamer picking burrs off of her woolen dress.
    “I told you to wear something more appropriate for camping and hunting, Dreamer,” she teased. Tsarra loved hunting in the Pellamcopse, the small woods east-northeast of the Northgate, but it had more than its share of briars.
    “I would have been fine if Tarik didn’t barrel through everything rather than move around it.” Danthra was a rail-thin, delicate creature with long night-dark hair as straight as an arrow, a wan complexion, and a beaming smile that overpowered any who saw it. “I always regret joining you on these jaunts, even if it is a nice change of pace.”
    “How are you feeling this morning?” Tsarra asked in alow voice as she kneeled by her friend, so as not to be overheard by the students. “No more visions I hope? Can you tell me what you saw that shook us both from sound sleep?”
    “The images are mostly the same—three lightning bolts of blue, purple, and black; Khelben’s sigil; a green glowing gem; and a Blackstaff shattering amid the full moon and a field of purple stars.” Danthra whispered. “You were there too, screaming.”
    “As were you, last night,” Tsarra said. “Weird stuff too. You said, ‘An old secret and the Blackstaff shatters and seeds duties of old anew are sown by lightning and sorrow,’ then passed out again.”
    “I’m just glad you heard it. I never remember that stuff.”
    Tsarra arched an eyebrow and shrugged. “Well, it makes no sense to me, but we’ll tell Khelben when we get back.”
    Danthra said, “But Tsarra, aren’t you—”
    Tsarra put a finger to the young woman’s lips and shook her head. “Your visions come true, and I’ve learned it’s best not to worry about what you can’t control. So let it go. You’ve nothing to apologize for. In fact, I should thank you for coming. What was I thinking, bringing six apprentices out on an overnight hunt?” She got up, crossing her eyes, which made her friend laugh.
    “You were thinking you can train some of them to be rangers, like your father taught you? Give up, Tsarra. The only two of us with any skills outside of our books are Trehgan and the new girl,” Danthra said, and she jumped as a brace of scarlet-feathered tarrants fell at her feet. Both women looked up to hear a low, mellow voice reply,
“One four times your elder should not be called ‘girl,’ human.”
    Perched easily across a pair of stout tree limbs, Tsarra’s newest student looked down at them. The copper skinned elf girl was not quite an adolescent, but she was already older than all of Tsarra’s other students combined. Walaxyrvaan of the Wealdath’s Elmanesse tribe apparently came north with a referral from Arilyn Moonblade and the master’s nephew, Lord Danilo Thann. She had helped guard thecaravan along the way north and had also tried—to no avail—to quell the exuberance of the al Fuqani