Jacindra pulled the slab of bread from the bowl of soup and plunged it in her mouth. Many people lost their appetites when they were frightened. Not her. Fear made her ravenous.
She ripped another piece of bread off the small loaf and buttered it with her knife. She let it soak and absorb the thick red-orange liquid throughout its many pores, then she opened her mouth and popped it in. It tasted delicious.
Tonight was the night. An apprentice. Any one, it didn’t matter which, but one that wouldn’t be missed. She knew how she could do it. It wasn’t uncommon for a sorceress to send a young apprentice to the library to get a book. Of course, it would be extremely uncommon for said apprentice to run into that ... thing. He had said he’d take care of the body and not to worry about it, but she couldn’t help it. What was he going to do once he killed the young man?
She stared sourly into her soup.
Probably nothing. The guards had found four dead bodies this morning. Four. Three watchmen and one mage-in-training. If the man, thing, beast, whatever-it-was didn’t care about leaving four bodies in the guild, he certainly wouldn’t make the effort to hide a fifth. She thought about the mage-in-training, a young man named Durek. By all accounts, a fairly talented lad… and now he was dead. Lucian’s threats had not been idle; magic did not intimidate a creature like that.
Jacindra gulped down another piece of soup-drenched bread.
What could she do? She had to send an apprentice, she had to! If she resisted ... the memory of what Lucian had said returned to her, what he’d shown her, what she’d seen. She shuddered. How could anyone face that?
But to send an unsuspecting man to his death? That was wrong, horribly wrong.
The Mistress of the Air stifled a sob. Why was this happening to her? Lucian didn’t need her. He could kill her at any time he chose; he’d already demonstrated that. What could he possibly want from her? It took a moment, but suddenly she knew the answer. It was a matter of power—power and domination. Killing her was not a challenge. Controlling her, terrorizing her, driving her to destroy herself, that was what Lucian enjoyed.
Perhaps she could tell Regecon? She trembled fitfully with that thought, then discarded it immediately. Lucian had been quite horrific with that particular threat. But if the other mages knew, perhaps something could be done. There had to be something! Three dead guards and a fallen student. If she did not comply with Lucian’s wishes, they would have a councilwoman for company.
Drasmyr (Prequel: From the Ashes of Ruin) Page 49
