by Martha Carr
William’s warm hand settled against her cheek and he leaned slowly toward her. Raven closed her eyes and raised her chin.
“Raven!”
“What?” She and William jerked away from each other. Hovering between them was the circle of shimmering light opened by a Full Appearance.
“You did it!” Bella grinned despite the need to concentrate to keep the spell open. Henry and Murphy’s faces appeared in the circle and both of them smirked.
“We’re so glad you’re okay,” Murphy said.
“I…yeah.” Raven laughed and glanced at William to mouth, “Sorry.”
He chuckled and shrugged.
“So, since no one else is gonna call it, Alby, let me say that your face when Bella opened this spell looked an awful lot like you were about to—”
“Where are you guys?” Raven stood from the edge of the porch and made sure not to turn so her friends wouldn’t see William Moss seated on the edge of the porch with her. It’s none of their business, even with an interruption.
“Still on the grounds,” Bella said.
“We waited after class,” Murphy added. “Gilliam told us she was waiting to hear from Flynn about how everything went. As soon as she told us, Bella cast the spell.”
“And I did not want to try opening it four ways again,” Bella added.
She nodded and folded her arms. “Yeah, good call.”
“Seriously, Alby, who’s there with you?”
She ignored Henry. “Hey, thank you for everything, guys. I wouldn’t be standing here right now without you.”
“Which is where, exactly? Ow!” He flinched and chuckled when Murphy elbowed him in the ribs. “You’re not curious about this?”
“Now we’re crossing our fingers that Flynn won’t expel us for helping,” Murphy added.
“What?”
“That was kind of the deal.” The girl shrugged.
Henry scoffed. “Yeah, which none of us actually agreed to.”
“He can’t expel any of you.” Raven shook her head. “I’m sure he’s obligated to give you guys some kind of medal or something. You know, as heroes of Lomberdoon and all that.”
“Sounds nice.” Murphy grinned.
“Or maybe we won’t have to take our finals and it’s an automatic in for the rest of our training at Fowler!” Henry spread his arms dramatically and opened his mouth in excitement.
“You have the right attitude, Derks.” She laughed. “I’ll tell you guys all about what happened when we get back to Brighton tomorrow.”
“Oh, yeah. Good idea.” He patted Bella’s shoulder and she squinted through the open window of the spell. “We don’t wanna waste all Bella’s magic with this if we don’t have to.”
The girl rolled her eyes. “We only wanted to see you. Now that we know you’re okay, we can wait a little longer to hear the rest.”
“Sounds good. I’ll see you guys tomorrow.”
“Wait!” Henry shouted. “Give us a tiny hint about—”
Bella cut the spell off, and the young mages’ faces disappeared with the shimmering light.
Raven chuckled and shook her head. “I’m sorry.”
William looked at her from the edge of the porch. “I thought I told you not to be.”
“Still. That was a poorly timed…surprise.”
“Nah, don’t worry about it. Your friends deserve to know you’re okay and back to civilization. If I had magic like that, I would’ve used it a long time ago to check on you.”
She bit her lip through a smile. “Well, thanks.”
He leapt to his feet and headed across the porch toward her. “I’m gonna turn in, anyway. Flynn wasn’t kidding about a lack of sleep all around.”
“Okay.” Well, there went that moment.
The dragon trainer opened his arms and pulled her in for a long, tight hug. She slid her arms around him and closed her eyes. He took a deep breath and muttered in her ear, “I’m really glad you’re okay.”
“Me too.”
When he released her, he didn’t pull away very far to meet her gaze. “Goodnight, Raven.”
“Night.”
William pressed his lips against her forehead, slipped through the door into the Benicio Inn, and left her alone on the side porch.
With a sigh, she shuffled to the chair at the head of the table and slumped into it. Maybe it’s a good thing we were interrupted. I need less complicated right now, not more. But that was—
An image from Leander entered her mind—his view from the dragon paddock of Raven and William leaning toward each other, one of his hands in hers and the other cupping her cheek.
When it faded, she leaned forward in her chair and searched for her dragon among the others. He stood right at the fence, his head weaving from side to side. “You were spying on us, huh?”
His hissing laughter traveled the short distance from the paddock to the porch.
Raven rolled her eyes playfully. “Okay. Get out of my head for a little while, dragon. I like my own memories, thank you very much.”
He stretched his wings and looked at the sky glowing with sunset. When he screeched, a few other dragons in the paddock echoed it.
“Yeah, I’m happy too.” She slid her hand into her pocket and pulled out the key to her room for the night.
A bed sounds really nice right now. And getting back to normal life tomorrow to put this completely behind me. Even if I still have to wait a little longer for Grandpa to come home.
Standing from the chair, she gave her dragon a goofy little salute, turned, and headed inside to sleep on a mattress with sheets instead of the cold stone floor of a dragon’s cave.
I’d better make sure that’s never an option again.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Across the unclaimed lands beyond the wall surrounding Lomberdoon, a young man named Cadmus Vudro stumbled through the slanted front door of the tiny hut he shared with his mother and father. Their raised voices followed him outside into the evening light, and he gritted his teeth against the anger that rose within him.
The view of their neighbors’ rundown huts with makeshift roofs and the refuse and junk scattered about the tiny yards of the destitute village all but forgotten by the king and queen of Sterlin Velt only fueled his rage. He stalked down the trampled road that was little more than a well-worn footpath. His bare feet were covered in calluses from a lifetime of only wearing shoes when his parents took him to the temple to pay tribute to the old gods. Even those had had holes in them for the last three years.
They can’t stop me from trying. I don’t care if I have to steal everything I see to get us out of this hellhole. I won’t work myself to the bone for scraps. Not anymore.
“This is the lot we were handed by Old Skybrow himself,” Cadmus’ father had told him. “We make do with what we have, and if we’ve satisfied the gods by our deeds in this life, we’ll return for another life with much more at our disposal to help us improve.”
Bullshit. He kicked a clod of dirt and it puffed into a spray of dust as he stormed down the path. Pleasing the gods is a coward’s excuse. Just because I was born to cowards doesn’t mean that’s what I have to be.
His rage fumed within him until his arms tingled with a warm itch, almost like the pins and needles of a sleeping limb returned to life but not quite.
The young man—who was old enough to have already passed through at least one year of magic school if he’d been born to different parents in a different kingdom—glanced at his clenched fists. The tingling in his arms spread to his hands and he opened them slowly. My arms can’t fall asleep from making a fist.
Shaking his hands, he stopped at the huge oak tree that had died three years before, although no one had bothered to cut it down.
“No one ever bothers to improve anything around here,” he seethed. “They simply work themselves to death, keep their heads down, and constantly pray and pay tribute while they wait for damned gods to give them a pat on the back. Old Skybrow ca
n rot for all I care. And take every single one of the other gods with him. They’re all useless!”
Cadmus thrust his hand toward the dead oak tree as if he’d held something to throw at it. The warm tingle flared in his chest now and seared down his arms. Before he knew what was happening, a black burst of energy streaked from his open hand and struck the center of the tree.
The dead oak cracked and split and the hollow wood splintered down the middle before the bare branches tilted sideways. The top half of the tree landed with a resounding crunch and bounced, while broken branches scattered in every direction like poorly carved arrows.
The young man raised his arms to shield his face and head from the worst of it, and when he lowered them, his mouth fell open.
Shouts of surprise and alarm came from the other villagers, and his mother screamed his name as her bare feet pounded down the footpath toward him.
He stared at his open palm and forced his mouth shut. I did that. It came from me.
“Cadmus!” His mother reached him, threw her arms around his broad shoulders, and pressed her head against his shoulder because that was as high as it would reach. Her hands roved over the back of his head, desperately smoothing his hair. “What happened? Are you all right? That was the most horrible sound. I thought the Hangman had split the ground to take us with him…”
None of her babbling penetrated his awareness. His body rocked as she hugged him again, but the young man could only stare at his hand. It didn’t shake in the least, nor was there any pain. In fact, it felt strong despite the absence of the tingling warmth he hadn’t recognized.
He felt strong.
A small smile flickered at the corner of his mouth. Curse the lot we’ve been handed. In this life, I mean to take what I deserve. And everyone will know what I can do.
The End
While Raven Alby prepares for her final exams as a first-year mage in training at Fowler Academy, she finally discovers the truth behind her parents’ deaths. Was it really an accident? Is the Order of War Mage keeping secrets, hidden from two entire kingdoms? Get ready for the revelations behind the history of where Raven Alby comes from and the sacrifices that were made for the safety of Lomberdoon’s people. But with magic returning in unexpectedly dangerous ways, will the secrets drive a misinformed young man with powerful magic of his own to seek a mistaken revenge on all mages? Will her mother's sacrifice be for nothing? Find out in WarMage: Unleashed!
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Goth Drow
Have you started the Goth Drow series from Martha and Michael? Book one is Once Upon A Midnight Drow and it’s available now through Amazon and Kindle Unlimited.
I’m not Goth to hide my Drow heritage, I’m Goth because I’m not a quitter.
My name is Cheyenne Summerlin, remember that name. Somebody should…
The world can’t know I’m a Drow halfling. Not yet. I barely have these powers under my control, but time’s up. I’m about to take magic for a test drive. Want to come along?
The black ops government group believe they can run my life... But I have plans of my own.
Watch out magical evil doers – I’m about to crash your party.
But will my training be enough?
Grab your copy today from Amazon or Kindle Unlimited.
Author Notes - Martha Carr
May 8, 2020
Michael Anderle likes to say I sometimes author note block him with my stories. I take it as a compliment. Here’s another good one.
If you’ve been coming to the Adult Story Time on Facebook Live (Monday through Friday at 1 pm CT – right now it’s WarMage Book 01) you’ve heard the good dog Lois Lane in the background barking at the window in her deep baritone. She could give any police dog a run for their money. She was born deaf and half the time she’s running to the front window already barking, hoping something is going on but a lot of the time there’s nothing.
She’s squirmy, loves to run zoomies, sheds fur like it’s a superpower, leans against people with all 90 pounds when she wants her back rubbed and unfortunately eats poop – and I adore her. We first met at a Christmas parade when she was just 11 months old. The local animal shelter was holding an adoption booth. I wanted a dog – I was a first-time homeowner and wanted to complete the picture. My choices were between a small thirty-pound dog that was described as a ‘busy bee’ and Lois Lane, who was deaf. She stood very still and didn’t react to noises around her. I thought she’d be quiet and easy to manage.
But, what I wasn’t really getting at the time was that Lois Lane hadn’t really discovered how to live, yet. She had spent all 11 months of her life – minus the 30 days in the shelter – locked in a crate and never, not ever, let out. To this day I never put her in a crate or confine her in a small room. It’s too much for her.
What I discovered was that for her grass was a new experience, a couch was a new thrill, a dog bed was something wondrous and other dogs were a mystery. She had no experience with toys and would often fall asleep standing up with her head crouched down, like she was still in that confined space. And sweet Lois had terrible separation anxiety (deaf dogs are often referred to as Velcro dogs – they typically stay near you but hers took it a few more steps). It took a year of trying every trick and lots of training and finally lots of doggie day care but eventually she figured out, I always return. Along the way a lot of things got chewed up, including the frame around the door I always left by, but that’s okay. Wood gets replaced. And who knew that a door mat when carefully shredded could look like brown puffy clouds in the backyard.
At daycare, where they loved her, she learned how to play and that’s when we all discovered she’s endlessly curious and somewhat mischievous. They spotted her getting a dog to help her untie a sun sail and for a while she liked to take off other dog’s collars and play keep-away.
We also discovered she’s endlessly kind. In fact, Lois Lane got to pay it forward in a way every time there was a new dog who had come from a similar situation, cowering in a corner, not sure how to play. Lois would teach them the ropes.
Lois is only six years old at this point and still runs like a puppy (looks more like a horse) and I have a thousand stories about her at this point – like the time she scooped up a baby bird in her mouth and I was yelling at her to drop it. She sheepishly opened her mouth and just let the unharmed bird roll to the ground. It got up squawking mad and wet and strode away while Lois looked at me with her big eyes. Anyway, by the time she’s old, I will be too and along the way there will be so many more goofy stories and probably a lot more very loud barking. (All the neighbors seem to know where my house is…) I’m glad I picked Lois Lane that day, even if I didn’t know what I was getting into because it turned out to be a lot more than I could have ever hoped for. More adventures to follow.
Books By Martha Carr
Series in the Oriceran Universe:
SCHOOL OF NECESSARY MAGIC
SCHOOL OF NECESSARY MAGIC: RAINE CAMPBELL
ALISON BROWNSTONE
THE DANIEL CODEX SERIES
THE LEIRA CHRONICLES
I FEAR NO EVIL
FEDERAL AGENTS OF MAGIC
SCIONS OF MAGIC
THE UNBELIEVABLE MR. BROWNSTONE
REWRITING JUSTICE
THE KACY CHRONICLES
MIDWEST MAGIC CHRONICLES
SOUL STONE MAGE
THE FAIRHAVEN CHRONICLES
Series in The Terranavis Universe:
The Adventures of Maggie Parker Series
The Adventures of Finnegan Dragonbender
The Witches of Pressler Street
OTHER BOOKS BY JUDITH BERENS
OTHER BOOKS BY MARTHA CARR
OTHER BOOKS BY MI
CHAEL ANDERLE
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Books by Michael Anderle
For a complete list of books by Michael Anderle, please visit:
www.lmbpn.com/ma-books/
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