The Dreaming Hunt Read Free

soon kill Will and cut Bloodroot’s disk off his chest. Truth be told, he reluctantly agreed with his grandfather.
    â€œHow dangerous could a ritual backlash be?” he asked Rosana low as a waiting quiet settled over the room.
    She winced. “If we were lucky, you and I would only die and have to resurrect. But with both of the casters’ experience, I’m sure we will be fine.”
    â€œBoth?” he asked, surprised.
    â€œWell, yes. Raina will assist Lenora. She can perform high magic and summon more magic than everyone in this room combined. The high matriarch would be silly not to let her help with the casting, just in case…”
    He finished the thought in his own mind. Just in case something went terribly wrong and they needed to power through the ritual by brute force—or in case Raina had to restore them all to life. A deep sense of foreboding washed over him as he stared at the overlapping circles on the floor. This wasn’t even foolhardy. It was insane.
    The high matriarch called from across the room, “We are ready, Will and Rosana. Let us begin.”
    *   *   *
    Raina stepped reluctantly into the small area where all five circles overlapped. This moment represented everything she’d tried so hard to avoid in her life. Ever since she’d shown massive talent as a healer, other people had been trying to fashion her into a tool for their own uses. She’d run away from home, given up her noble rank, her family, even her identity, for a chance to forge her own path in the world.
    Ending up in the Heart had not been ideal, but landing in the White Heart had been a stroke of luck. It was the pacifist, diplomatic order within the healer’s guild and enjoyed close protection by the Royal Order of the Sun. Her White Heart colors allowed her to move freely and in relative safety wherever she chose to roam.
    The White Heart was known for dabbling in politics, which suited her purposes, as well. And it had the added benefit of making her untouchable by those who would have co-opted her power for their own ends. The downside was that she nominally served the Kothite Empire, which she despised. It was an uncomfortable arrangement at best. But life was turning out to be fraught with arrangements that left her less than thrilled.
    â€œGet comfortable,” the high matriarch instructed her, Will, and Rosana. “This may take a while.”
    Will sat on a narrow stool a Royal Order of the Sun guardian brought forward. Rosana perched beside him on another. On a small table between her and the high matriarch, Raina carefully laid out the magical items whose energies would be drained to help fuel the ritual.
    â€œWhat’s all that?” Will demanded suspiciously.
    Raina answered, “Distilled essencia. Etherium manacles. Spinneret of a veilweaver, threads of an aethercloak. And of course you know this one: sap of an ancient bloodthorn.” She gestured at a small glass tube of liquid, so dark a red it looked nearly black.
    The high matriarch pulled Aurelius’s scroll tube out of her sleeve, carefully unrolled an age-stained parchment scroll upon the tiny table, and weighted down its corners with the small stones. Raina read the first few lines and was impressed. It described how to cast a nature circle from an extremely rare form of magic.
    Lenora glanced at her. “Shall we begin?”
    Raina was not clear on why the nature circle was necessary. She could see logic in using spirit and curse circles. Rosana could cast both types of magic, and as such, they would be intrinsic to her spirit. The time and glamour circles had more to do with powering the ritual than with specifically helping fix Rosana. But nature? Did it matter to the gypsy somehow? Or was that a nod to the Bloodroot spirit within Will?
    One by one, Lenora activated the circles, blending their energies into a dome of magic encompassing all four of them. It would serve to