Page 109 of An Archer's Redemption

I nodded. “That is right. He is right over—”

My words caught in my throat as I turned and pointed to where the horse had lain only moments before.

There was no horse.

There, lying in a pool of his own blood that still poured from his head and chest, was the body of a man in silky brown robes. Pieces of a shattered mask depicting a snarling gray horse with stubby antlers lay a pace away.

Chapter 47

Declan

Tears flowed as I searched the inky darkness with both hands.

I cast a swirling ball of light beneath the swells and thrust my hands into the river’s surface. Each time they rose from the current, they held nothing, simply dripped with oozing blackness.

My mother was gone.

She was truly gone.

I sat back against a stone and stared at nothing.

I looked down and scrubbed my hands against my trousers, angry at the poisoned substance that had just made me an orphan, desperate to remove its stain from my skin.

How long I sat in that grotto, revisiting every moment I’d had with my mother, I would never know.

Minutes?

Hours?

It felt like a lifetime—but a lifetime wasn’t enough.

There could never be enough time.

I wept again.

When weariness of heart and body ebbed, I rose and made my way to the cavern’s entrance. Darkness had fallen on the early spring night, and stars shone in the cloudless sky. I could just make out the lights of the guild and trudged slowly toward them.

Why were so many burdens laid on my shoulders?

“Declan, can you hear me?”a familiar voice called in my mind, startling me out of my pondering.

“Atikus?”I asked, unsure if returning the mental missive would even work.“How—”

Ifeltthe Mage’s rumbling laughter in my mind.“I have no idea, but you are not going to believe what else I can do now.”

“Atikus, where are you? I need to tell you something, and I’d rather—”

“Wait! You are responding Telepathically! Does this mean your Gifts still work?”

I’d had no reason to test my Telepathy before that moment. It had worked a few times, speaking in Ayden’s mind, but this felt different somehow . . .more. Though more of what, I couldn’t fathom.

A thousand questions flooded my mind.

How far away was Atikus?

How far could we communicate?

How far could I—?

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