Athena Sorrengail (yep, that's me) has been preparing for the Healers quadrant her whole live, but her mother seemed to have a different plan.
Or so everyone thought
In secret has I have been preparing to become a rider since I turned 12.
The only...
In the best interest of preserving peace within Navarre, no more than three cadets carrying rebellion relics may be assigned to any squad of any quadrant.
—Addendum 5.2, Basgiath War College Code of Conduct
In addition to last year's changes, marked ones assembling in groups of three or more will now be considered an act of seditious conspiracy and is hereby a capital offense.
—Addendum 5.3, Basgiath War College Code of Conduct
Ups! Gambar ini tidak mengikuti Pedoman Konten kami. Untuk melanjutkan publikasi, hapuslah gambar ini atau unggah gambar lain.
"Damn it," I mutter as my toe catches a rock, and I stumble in the waist-high grass that grows alongside the river beneath the citadel. Violet grabs me just in time to prevent me from falling.
The moon was nice and full, illuminating my way, but it means I am sweating to death in this cloak to keep hidden, just in case anyone else is out here wandering after curfew.
The Iakobos River rushes with summer runoff from the peaks above, and the currents are fast and deadly this time of year, especially coming out of the steep drop of the ravine.
No wonder that first year died when he fell in yesterday during our downtime. Since parapet, our squad is the only one in the quadrant not to loose anyone, but I know that is unlikely to last much longer in this ruthless school. As long as Violet and I survive it is fine.
Okey and Rhiannon. I like her.
Tightening my heavy satchel, we move closer to the river, along the ancient line of oaks where Violet says one vine of fonilee berries will be coming into season soon. Ripe, the purple berries are tart and barely edible but, picked prematurely and left to dry, will make an excellent weapon in the growing arsenal that nine nights of sneaking out had given me and Violet. You know if I say it, it sounds like I know what I am talking about. Let me tell you a secret.
I am just reading all of this from Violet's Book of Poisons.
Spotting the boulder, the two of us had used as a landmark for the past five years, I count the trees on the riverbank.
"One, two, three," I hear Violet whisper, spotting the exact oak we apparently need. Its branches spread wide and high, some even daring to reach out over the river.
Lucky for Violet, the lowest is easily climbable, even more so with the grass oddly trampled underneath.
The fonilee vine looks deceptively like ivy (Surprise, surprise. I do know what that is) as it winds up the trunk but has scaled this particular tree enough times to know this is the one.
"Shit!" I hear Violet say as her foot slips on the bark and my heart stutters for a heartbeat while her feet find better holds. This would have been so much easier during the day, but we couldn't risk being caught.
Bark scraped my palms as I climb higher. The tips of the vine leaves were white at this height, barely visible in the mottled moonlight through the canopy.
