Page 117 of The Study of Magic
“Leif,” Yelena provided.
“…is coming along?”
“Of course,” Leif said.
“No,” she said at the same time. “I don’t want you to get hurt. Mother wouldn’t like it.”
“And I wouldn’t be able to face her wrath if I didn’t stay and help.” Leif crossed his arms over his chest. His square jaw set into a stubborn line.
“Your mother sounds like a formidable woman,” Valek said into the silence.
“You have no idea,” Leif replied with a sigh.
“Well, if she’s anything like Yelena, my deepest sympathies,” Valek teased.
“Hey!”
Leif laughed and the tense moment dissipated.
Valek handed Leif his machete. “Do you know how to use it?”
“Of course. I chopped Yelena’s bo into firewood,” Leif joked.
“You took me by surprise. I didn’t want to hurt you,” she shot back.
Leif looked dubious.
“How about a rematch?” she asked.
“Anytime.”
Valek stepped between them. “I’m beginning to wish that you were an only child, love. Can you both manage to focus on the task at hand without trying to catch up on fourteen years of sibling rivalry?”
“Yes,” they said in unison, properly chastised.
“Good. Then, let’s go.”
“Where?” she asked.
“In keeping with his cryptic nature, all your Story Weaver said was, ‘The horses know where to go.’” Valek shrugged. “It’s certainly not a military strategyIwould use, but I’ve learned that the south uses its own strategy. And, strangely enough, it works.”
* * *
The horses did indeed know where to go. As the sun rose over the plains, they encountered a group of Sandseed soldiers on a rocky outcropping surrounded by tall grass. Valek counted. There were eighteen warriors dressed in leather armor and equipped with either scimitars or spears. They had painted red streaks on their faces and arms, creating a fierce countenance.
Valek and Yelena dismounted. Leif jumped off his horse, Rusalka. The two horses grazed as Yelena shivered in the cold morning air.
Moon Man greeted them. He had dressed like the others, but he was armed with his scimitar and a bo staff. Valek admired the carvings of animals and symbols in the black wood of the five-foot tall staff. They seemed to tell a story. And like his gray rocks, there was a hidden beauty inside the wood. The carvings revealed a gold-colored wood under the black surface.
“I sent a scout last night,” Moon Man said. “He found the blood-letting apparatus in the Void, just as Yelena described. Then he tracked the Daviian Vermin to a campsite about a mile east of that location. We are on the edge of the plains, about two miles north of that site.”
Blood-letting apparatus? Valek wanted to ask Yelena for more details, but again, not the proper time. The rest was good news. “We’ll wait until dark and launch a surprise attack,” Valek said. That was the standard procedure.
“That will not work,” Moon Man said. “The Vermin have a shield that will alert them to intruders. My scout could not get too close to their camp for fear of discovery.” Moon Man scanned the horizon. “They have strong Warpers, who can hide their whereabouts from our magic.”
“Warpers?” Leif asked.
Moon Man frowned. “Magicians. I refuse to call them Story Weavers, for they manipulate the threads for their own selfish desires.”
