A Dagger of the Mind (The Imperial Metals) by Daniel Antoniazzi Read Free Book Online

strong enough to save her mentor.
    Nuria pressed her hand over Vye’s heart and reached out. Imagining a heartbeat. Picturing the wound closing. Just as Vye had taught her. Though they had only ever practiced on small cuts and bruises. The sorts of things that people suffered from when they weren’t prepared for war.
    But nothing was happening.
    “Nuria,” Duncan said, resting his hand on her shoulder. Great Halinor, how she would have wanted his hand on her shoulder any other time in the history of existence. But right now she wanted nothing more than for Vye to wake up. There was only one person powerful enough to deal with what they had just encountered. And it was Vye. And now she was gone...
    No. She didn’t have to be gone. Vye said she had healed people on the brink of death. She had recounted to Nuria many times the battle with the Great Wyrm Devesant. And she had explained how, after returning to the House of Vye, she had restored King Michael, Queen Sarah, the pirate Corthos, the historian Jareld, and herself to full health.
    Hearts could be stopped. But Nuria was sure they could be started again. And then she had a crazy idea. It was the sort of desperate thought that only occurs to people who are crying over a dead body. It was the sort of thing that, if it had been debated about with a Council of Wise Elders, would have led to laughing and drinking. “What a crazy idea that would be, wouldn’t it?” they would muse. “Good thing nobody would ever do that sort of thing in real life.”
    But Nuria had never been on a Council of Wise Elders.
    If she could inhabit the empty vessel of a suit of armor, couldn’t she also inhabit the empty vessel of Vye’s body?
    The answer was yes. But it was extremely dangerous. Still, Nuria sat beside Vye, closed her eyes, and tried to imagine herself in Vye’s body...
    And then she was there. Numb. The world was dark and silent. But Nuria knew where her heart was supposed to be. She missed the steady rhythm of it. Like a cricket that’s lived in your room for years, and you only notice it when it stops chirping.
    So she willed her heart to start beating. Not an easy task. And it was extraordinary that this young girl could manage it. But there it went. And Nuria heard the thump-thump of the heart. Not her heart. Vye’s.
    And then the world went from a dark place to a blurry place. Vye’s eyelids fluttered, and Nuria could see out of her pupils. It was surreal to see her own body, sitting cross-legged and eyes closed.
    And then Vye’s will came rushing back into her body, and Nuria was forcefully ejected. She collapsed in her own body, head-spinning, exhausted. She threw up, catching herself on her hands. Duncan rushed to her side.
    “What the hell did you do?” he asked, terrified.
    But Nuria didn’t have time to answer. She may have brought Vye back from the dead, but Vye was still too wounded to survive for long. Nuria collapsed on her mentor, hand glowing blue, closing the gaping wound across Vye’s chest. Vye was breathing. But unconscious.
    And then, so was Nuria.

Chapter 5: The Old Regent
     
    Landos and Sarah strolled through the East Wing of the Castle Anuen. The guest rooms. Royal suites. The sorts of places where foreign Kings would reside when visiting. And also, as it now turned out, former prisoners.
    When the war was over and the negotiations began for the Peace Treaty, the Turin offered up the former Regent, Filerane, as a prisoner. They couldn’t offer up Argos. Vye had killed Argos. They just didn’t want to deal with Filerane. They needed new leadership. Somebody who wasn’t associated with the disastrous war.
    So, they brought him, in chains, to the first meeting for the Peace Treaty. Landos wasn’t quite sure what to do with him. There was a lot of pressure to put him to death, but Landos felt that wasn’t in the spirit of the peace they were trying to build.
    So he locked Filerane away in the Tower of Goldmere. The secret prison.