Lokant Read Free Page A

alone
all this time, and in a state of anxiety about both members of her
family.
    ‘I’m sorry, Ynara,’ she
said with real regret. ‘I wish I could stay until Llan returns to
you, but I can’t.’
    Ynara tried a smile. ‘I
know. I understand. Thank you for coming to me now.’
    Eva nodded, unsure of
what else to say.
    ‘I’ll be here,’ said
Devary.
    ‘You’re the one who
lost her!’ The words burst from Ynara as if she couldn’t hold them
back anymore. She swept a hand over her face, dashing away the
dampness that glittered on her cheeks.
    ‘I’m sorry,’ Devary
said, watching helplessly as Ynara fought to regain her composure.
‘I’m sorry.’
     
    Eva stayed as long as
she could with Ynara, but she knew it wasn’t enough. It took all of
her will to leave her friend alone again after a mere day’s stay,
but she knew she had no choice. She began the walk back to the
border with grave reluctance.
    Yna’s strong, she told herself. Strong enough for this.
    As long as Llandry
comes back.
     
     

Chapter
Two
     
    Mr. Pitren Warvel -
Tren, to his many friends - sat alone and disconsolate in the vast
library of Glour City. To be precise, he was sitting in a small
reading chamber reserved for those with official access to Glour’s
hidden store of books: those texts deemed inappropriate for general
public borrowing. Fat, musty tomes were stacked in towering piles
around his desk, concealing him behind a wall of knowledge. It felt
appropriate, for instead of mastering that mountain of academic
records and theses, he had been smothered by it.
    Sighing, Tren pushed
back his chair and turned his head from side to side, trying to
loosen the tension in his neck. Two weeks of work, and he, the
experienced scholar and able student, had found virtually nothing
about the draykons of the past. So little had he uncovered, in
fact, that he would be inclined to categorise them as mere legend -
if he had not recently seen two such beasts with his own eyes.
    The whole experience
was intensely dispiriting. Lady Glostrum herself had arranged
access to this collection; it was not something a young sorcerer
like himself could expect to receive without patronage. The fact
that she had assigned the research to him was proof of her faith in
his ability, and he had failed. If there was any relevant
information within this hidden library, he couldn’t find it.
    He plucked absently at
the cuffs of his shirt, dissatisfied. His clothes were shabby, his
hair unbrushed and he was covered in book dust from head to foot.
For two weeks he had barely slept or eaten, aware of the urgency of
his task. That dedication having availed him nothing, perhaps it
was time to go home and attend to his own comfort. The prospect was
a tempting one, but he resisted. He wanted to see Lady Glostrum,
and without something to report he felt that he could not impose on
her. His pride would not allow it.
    She, of course, seemed
to have no particular desire to see him. A few weeks had passed
since their excursion to the Lowers; three weeks since the draykons
had risen and subsequently vanished. He had assisted her in making
her reports to Glour’s government - she felt that she needed his
corroboration in order to be believed, though he doubted it - and
that was the last time he had seen her. Since then he had been
locked in here moonrise to moonset and he had neither seen nor
heard from her. The reflection hurt. Did she remember to think of
him, wherever she was? Doubtful. She was a peer of the realm and a
member of the government; she had many more important things to
think about.
    ‘That’s enough,’ he
muttered, dismissing the negative reflections from his thoughts. He
bent his head once more over the book that lay before him, but as
he readied his pen for the note-taking he heard the scrape of a key
in the door and somebody’s footsteps rang on the stone floor.
Somebody female, he concluded, and felt a surge of hope.
    ‘Tren?’ Eva’s voice. He
felt a