The days of magic are long since past, but they will come again. Searah, Kaytee and Reacca are just moving into adulthood, but as the story starts, secrets about Searah's family, her links to magic and an unwanted inheritance hang over their lives...
¡Ay! Esta imagen no sigue nuestras pautas de contenido. Para continuar la publicación, intente quitarla o subir otra.
One of the biggest advantages of being the Deans well mannered, well behaved daughter, was that no one ever questioned you. No one stopped her as she made her way from her room with a bag full of clothes, or when she picked her way through the kitchen stores taking anything she could fit in her bag. No one raised an eyebrow as she nodded her way past the stable staff, saddled up Searah's horse and walked him out towards the open Collegium gates. She threw a cloak around her shoulders, tied her hair tight back against her head, holding it back with long strip of green material, and rode out into the cobbled streets of Cassiden. She grinned madly as Cashew sped up and kicked his way through puddles, streaming past shops and houses, all bathed in the red glow of the early morning light.
She had a good idea of where she was going. There were only two roads that headed south out of the town and one of them led to nowhere other than farmland and open plane. As she clattered over the bridge that gulfed the more eastern of the two rivers the rain picked up again and it didn't take long before she was cold and soaked through. She cursed under the hood of her cloak, the rain and heavy winds that seemed to be trying to copy the power of the previous nights storm was going to make everything much harder.
As the city passed quickly behind her and the high Collegium towers started to disappear behind the cliff face, she slowed Cashew to a canter and started to cast around. The woods on this side of the lake would have made a perfect hiding place for any band of travellers but with any luck, she thought, the people she was looking for wouldn't know them well enough to have taken full advantage. After a few minutes searching along the muddy path she found what she was looking for.
Jumping down and pulling her cloak tight about her she picked her way across to a small sheltered patch of ground by the road, and bent down next to a pile of ash and logs. The ash was cold, she thought, picking her way through the remnants of the dead camp fire with a blackened finger.
'They must have left a good few hours ago,' she spoke to the air around her 'it's cold so it's not too fresh, but the wind and rain hasn't destroyed it yet, so it can't be too old.'
She looked around the clearing with a keen eye before following something on the ground back towards the path, jumped up onto Cashews back and kicked him back into a run.
The rain was hammering hard against her reddened cheeks by the time she felt what she had been expecting. For a brief second she found herself once again inside the medical ward of the Collegium, looking up at the angry face of her father. A second later and it was gone.
'He didn't seem happy' she grinned. Then again her mind jumped and she was back in the Collegium.
'Where in all the Territories are you?' burst Searah's voice inside her head.
'Do you mind?' Amea replied, for all the world unsure of why she had spoke the words aloud. 'I'm a bit busy at the moment and I really don't want to get thrown from my horse while I'm pottering around in your head' the vision disappeared, and Amea had to pull hard on Cashews reins to pull him back on course.
