The Call Read Free

understand it any better. It didn't last long enough for analysis.
    “This is not degeneration. The hair just starts to lighten after a while. Mine will be totally white in about twenty or thirty years. The elders call it a mark of wisdom. A sign that one has withstood the test of time and is finally properly skilled and learned.” She hesitated a bit. “They can be rather stodgy.”
    “Just how old are you?”
    “This winter will be my one hundred and thirty-second.”
    Katja felt an urge to accuse her of lying, but refrained.
    “And are you still not considered old?!”
    “According to the elders I am taking my first steps into adulthood,” Serdra said with a sardonic smile. “Some of them are walking history books. And since our power grows over time then, well, later I can tell you tales of deeds. Absolutely incredible stories.”
    “But I'll start with something smaller, I take it?”
    “You'll start by learning , Katja. We are too few to afford losing a new warrior due to inexperience or haste.”
    “And were you assigned to teaching me?”
    “I was closest to you around this time and the least busy. So it became my task. We usually operate alone, but still have certain traditions and customs. You will need to learn those, along with everything else.”
    “If respect for my elders is among those, then no one has managed to teach me that one yet. Just so you know.”
    Serdra smiled and that unnerving gleam appeared in her eyes again. It occurred to Katja that the attitude would cost her when it came to combat training.
    “Is there anything else I should know about you... us... myself, and these... gifts?”
    “Plenty. But we will have time to discuss that in detail later. You won't be free of me until I consider you ready to walk your own path. I have never mentored before.” Serdra reached for the spear and threw it over the fire. “I look forward to seeing how you do.”
    Katja caught the spear automatically. Reason told her she should find this all ridiculous madness, but this short meeting with Serdra had answered so many things she had never understood about herself. As if some missing part of her had been found. Though she feared the future this woman promised her, she also felt relieved at not having to live with her strange urges without ever getting to satisfy them.
    “But what do you mean by later? What happens now?” She put up her best cocky grin. “Are you going to beat the attitude out of me?”
    “No, I will clearly need to start by honing your sensitivity. Can't you feel that?”
    “Feel wh-”
    Then she did feel it. It was a cold tingle of fear, just as she had felt shortly before the monster attacked her village. Except this one was stronger. Much stronger.
    She sprang to her feet and pointed the spear into the darkness. She heard an approaching noise and the sounds of Serdra getting to her feet and drawing the sword.
    “They know what I am,” the woman said calmly, “And have been hesitant to approach. But they have been gathering numbers and so their courage.”
    “Numbers?! What numbers?!”
    Katja didn't look away from the direction of the noise, but heard the smile in Serdra's voice.
    “You will need to learn to detect such things yourself. Why do you think I chose this hill as our meeting place? There is a good reason why people avoid this area.” She took a flaming stick out of the fire and slowly walked up to Katja's side. “This is a good place to give you a proper test.”
    Katja looked at the tall woman with fear. Fear and excitement. And she felt she saw a hint of mirth in Serdra's eyes.
    “Let us see what you can do, little raptor.”
    She tossed the stick and the flame illuminated the approaching creatures.
    Katja heard herself scream just as the monsters erupted into a horrible choir of shrieks. Serdra raised her sword with a slow and steady hand.
    One of the blocky, hairless freaks snorted and sped up. The one closest to it did the same an instant later and