Dimwater's Demons Read Free Page B

it seemed this would be the most she would have to see Feberik, as he had been assigned a summer cohort of third and fourth year apprentices of the sword who would be staying on for extended training during the summer. With the reduced faculty during the summer, as many of them were sent away on assignments for the king, Feberik would be with his students almost constantly, supervising their training and helping them grow accustomed to the regimented life of a soldier.
    There had been some discussion of putting her with a similar summer cohort of sorcery students to keep her out of trouble. But when word of her potentially being re-integrated with the other students had gotten out, the few sorcery candidates there had been had mysteriously all chosen to spend their summer months at home. As a result, all of the sorcery faculty had also been sent out on assignment for the summer, and there was now no worry in her mind of being paired with a hostile instructor.
    Her ankle had healed nicely, thanks to the priests from Valtuu Temple. Still, she had hated having them around so close in the weeks and months since the fight with the shade. And now, despite the marvelous ways in which her dragon, Leatherback, had been developing, the older priests were still always trying to convince her that Leatherback was not to be trusted. Their rhetoric was much like Njar’s when she had first met the Satyr, but there was something about the way the priests said it that made it more insulting somehow.
    Worse than this, though, was the fact that they could see her aura from a great distance. It had never been overly difficult to sneak out of the academy before, but now, having these priests tasked with watching over her, it was much more complicated than she would have liked.
    Then there were the semi-weekly visits with the priests. They would examine her aura and then go to see Leatherback. She hated those days. Kyra knew they meant well, but it felt like they were judging her value as a person each and every time they stared at her with those dull, gray eyes. She could only imagine what Leatherback must feel like. She wondered whether the dragon knew that the priests would condemn him to death if they saw the slightest hint of what they called “the taint” in his aura.
    Kyra shook her head and sighed. This was not how she had imagined spending the next few years of her life. Fortunately, she had completed the first year of four that she would spend as an apprentice at Kuldiga Academy. Well, four years was the normal course of study for the average apprentice at any rate. She wondered whether she would be expected to complete the terms as normal from here on out. Ever since the winter festival last year, she had only had one-on-one instruction with Cyrus following an incident with a teacher against whom Kyra had defended herself. Unbeknownst to Kyra, Lady Priscilla had been with child, and when Kyra’s wind spell had caused the teacher to fly back into a wall, it had put both mother and child in serious danger.
    Kyra sighed, remembering the incident. If only Feberik could have let her be that first term! His incessant visits had spoiled any chances she might have had to make friends, or at least quietly complete her terms while teaching herself spells from the book her mother had snuck into her bag the day she had left home. She closed her eyes and clenched her teeth for a moment before blasting an old stump with a fireball as the memory of that little spell book brought a flood of memories and emotions rushing into her mind. Kyra picked up the pace, knowing that the sooner she could get to Leatherback, the sooner she would have something positive to focus her energy on.
    Just the thought of her friend put a smile on Kyra’s lips. Perhaps she would learn enough from Cyrus to leave with Leatherback in the next year or so, if he grew enough to make the flight across the sea to the north. It all depended on him. Then he would be safe from