Reckoning (The Empyrean Chronicle) Read Free Page B

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their arcanists, for a good wizard was their lifeline on the Sheer. More than
that, the war effort consumed a lot of resources and wizards are expensive.”
    “It makes sense that their salary was higher than a Galacian
Regular.”
    “That’s just the tip of the splinter. With the crown’s purse
already heavily burdened, stipends for universities, colleges, and other public
works ran dry. Arcalum’s recruitment efforts were largely responsible for
discovering young individuals with the spark of the arcane. Wizard training is
quite a challenging enterprise, and few can progress far without a mentor, and
all those wizards and apprentices need to be housed, clothed, and fed—all of
which require coin.”
    Padraic looked ahead toward the creek and watched the water,
as his fathers had before him, bubble from its underground cavern and run down the
gentle slope toward the Duana’s modest mill and rickhouse beyond, rolling
downstream through the limestone basin like the years had rolled by, at first
slowly, and then quicker as he aged, until he found himself in the autumn of
his life, hair more salt than pepper and skin as coppery as the whiskey he
distilled.
    Elias watched his father intently as he spoke. While Padraic
Duana felt old that day, sitting by the creek with his son, to Elias his grey
hair was dignified, and the tanned skin, squinting hawk-like eyes, the lean
silhouette, were all testimonies to a life lived largely out of doors and
evidence of his strength and athleticism even well into his fifties.
    “It’s a shame,” Padraic said, “that human ingenuity and
compulsion to war have slowly bled us of our most precious gift.”
    Elias gazed at his father, who had closed his eyes and grown
as still as someone in a deep sleep. “What do you mean?”
    “I think we’ve had enough talk of war and wizards for one
day.” Padraic opened his eyes. “Besides, I think that a certain young man is
due to meet a comely young lass at the county fair.”
    “We still have to turn the top level of the rickhouse,” said
Elias, keeping his tone neutral, for though he was loathe to rotate the barrels
in the sweltering attic of the rickhouse it needed to be done and the hour
before dusk was the best time to do it.
    “True enough,” Padraic said, and Elias’s heart sank, “but I
think it can wait until tomorrow, and you really should get a move on. You
don’t want to keep Asa waiting.”
    Elias clapped his father on the shoulder in thanks and
sprung to action. Not five minutes later, as Elias closed up the rickhouse and
gathered the practice equipment he heard the clip clop of hooves. He turned
toward the drive trail. A smear of orange light bobbed in the distance—a
carriage lantern. As the carriage crested the hill leading to the Duana
homestead, Elias cried out, “Dad! Danica’s carriage!”
    One corner of Padraic’s mouth tilted upward as he watched his
two children come together and his thoughts turned to his late wife. The
greatest gift they had given their children was each other. In the years to
come, he ardently hoped that would be enough. Padraic sighed deeply. He walked
around the far side of the barn and approached his modest but well-built cedar
shake house from the back. He wanted his children to be able to greet each
other without their old man present.
    Elias sprinted toward the carriage as it meandered into the
driveway before the house. Danica threw down the reigns and jumped from the
driver’s seat even as the carriage shrugged to a stop. “Were you planning on
doing battle with me, brother?” Danica asked, raising an eyebrow and looking
pointedly at his practice sword.
    Elias, who only then realized that he still held the practice
blades, cast the foils aside and the two siblings embraced, laughing. “I didn’t
think that your summer apprenticeship finished for another month,” Elias said.
    “It doesn’t, but how could I miss Midsummer’s? And I knew my
little brother would be