Memory's Wake Omnibus: The Complete Illustrated YA Fantasy Series Read Free

scrawling magical symbols and words in charcoal. Eloryn recognized with excited fear what he was doing. The workings of a Veil door.
    “Ellie.” Alward stood up to inspect his work. Pushing his glasses back up his nose he left a line of black soot behind. His graying blond hair, tied back in its usual ponytail, frayed and escaped from its bonds. “We have to go; we’ve been found. I don’t know how. Someone in the village perhaps recognized me. I’m sorry child. Hurry, fetch the pack.”
    Eloryn’s mouth turned dry. She always knew they could be found, but one thought stormed through her head, leaving her dazed. Why now? Why have they found us now? Her chest tightened. Please don’t let this be my fault.
    Forcing her body to move, she went to a large wooden chest and unlocked it with a spoken behest, pulling out a packed bag that had been prepared for just this day. Alward still focused on the complex spell words, so to keep busy and calm her nerves, Eloryn took a fresh loaf from Alward’s desk and tucked it into the top of the leather satchel.
    Alward called her to his side and she skittered to him, stepping carefully within the wide ring of soot-black words and trying to hide her shaking. She tilted her head back to look up into his face, which had begun showing the deeper lines of age. A crash of noise rattled up from the monastery entrance, making Eloryn gasp. Alward’s eyes darkened and he put a hand on her shoulder.
    “It will all be well, my girl. The spell is set. Stay close to me. Be brave, the experience is not pleasant.” His expression held sad secrets she often saw when their eyes met. It sometimes made her wonder if he was disappointed in her, in his responsibility to care for her. Her heart leaped about and she clung to the leather pack as though it were a stuffed doll.
    The charcoal words hummed and glowed when Alward began incanting in his gravelly voice. The Veil door was a long and complicated spell that most would have to read from a page, but Alward knew the ancient words well from years of study. The spell markings on the floor exploded into magical fire, and tendrils of smoke twisted around them, moving in unnatural ways. The vapor enveloped them. Eloryn watched as her own body began to take on the likeness of the smoke, shimmering into the Veil. It was wondrous, terrifying and painful.
    She turned to Alward for reassurance and saw a stranger standing in the doorway.
    Eloryn cried out a warning. Lost in his focus on the spell, Alward continued to chant.
    The man at the doorway also called out and more men joined him, pouring into the room. One man, with a scarred face and lion’s mane hair, drew a fine crossbow. He shot a splinter-sized dart that lodged itself into Alward’s chest.
    Alward’s form became solid. Light exploded in the room, knocking back the other men. Magical fire and living smoke, no longer under control, sparked and hissed, shifting like violent shadows. Whipping mists ripped into Eloryn, still caught within the Veil, barely there.
    Alward strained toward Eloryn with charcoal blackened hands. She reached back but her hand passed through his, and she was gone.
     

     
    In the black of the cave, Eloryn took a moment to ease the burning in her throat and stifle the sob building in her chest. She choked. Asking the rocks to fall had seemed clever at first but now she wasn’t so sure. Dust hung in the air, thick and invisible in the darkness, clogging her throat with each breath.
    At least I’m safe now. Safe until Alward can find me again. Eloryn pressed her bottom lip between her teeth. Safe, maybe, but she’d already made grave mistakes. The strange girl had even seen her using unauthorized magic. Girl? She had taken her to be a boy at first, wearing what she did. Maybe it was a disguise? The girl even refused to share her name. She could be hiding something too.
    Now Eloryn only needed to cast a simple behest, one of the few authorized spells every person in Avall