The Callindra Chronicles Book One - First Quest by Benjamin Fisher-Merritt Read Free Book Online

relaxing herbs he had put in it should have put her to
sleep by now. He slipped into the room, she was drowsing, one arm
hanging out of the tub. She had satisfied smile curling up the
corners of her mouth.
    The Oath of the Master gave him pause. Was
this truly necessary for her to learn? Although she might be a
danger to him or to herself, life in general was dangerous as he
knew from his recent encounter with a hungry puma. Swordplay was
dangerous also and learning, even from a master, was not without
its perils. Then there was the amount of mystic energy he would
have to expend in order to perform the seal; it was sure to attract
the attention of Shojin even if it wasn’t enough to get the notice
of rest of The Order.
    Glarian sighed and quietly left her where she
lay. He sat on the stoop, smoking his pipe and trying to make sense
of the things in his head. Every time he tried to balance the risks
of the possible courses of action, his thoughts scattered like
dandelion fluff on a blustery day when he thought of Callindra. She
had some kind of hold over him that he couldn’t explain. He stood
and made his way back to where the bath was set up in front of the
fire.
    “ You need to go to bed
Callindra, tomorrow the real training is going to commence.” He
tossed a towel over her face as she began to shake off
sleep.
    She murmured something he couldn’t quite make
out and emerged from the bath, barely bothering to towel herself
off before stumbling into her room to collapse on the bed. Glarian
pulled a blanket over her and blew out the candle before he left
her to rest. Moving to the center of the main room, he stood on a
chair and reached into the darkness above the rafters.
    With a grunt of effort, Glarian pulled a
large case down with a thud. Noting with satisfaction that the
hinges and clasp were still well oiled, he opened the lid,
revealing a dozen or more swords of different shapes and sizes. He
carefully removed them, and reached back inside to take a long
leather-wrapped bundle from the bottom of the case.
    “ I can’t seal Callindra’s
power, it would be too risky.” He muttered to himself, “Maybe I can
mask her activity and temper the Weave’s enthusiasm a little.”
Inside the bundle were a multitude of pouches, wooden boxes and one
long roll of leather. He took out a medium sized box filled with
small clay tablets and selected four with the same set of runes
carved on them.
    “ This should buy us a little
time. Maybe enough time for me to help her tame that wild side, or
at least how to ride it without a saddle or bridle.” He shook his
head, glancing toward the room where Callindra slept.
    “ You have dragged me
reluctantly back onto the precipice where the North Wind rages. I
swore never to teach swordplay, and never to instruct another to
command the Weave on pain of death. Now that I have forsaken those
oaths, The Order will most certainly come for me. Not only them,
but once I deploy these talismans once again challengers will begin
to appear. I’m betting the hope that one of them will kill me and
take my Title will keep Shojin and the other Inquisitors off my
back until I can properly prepare for their arrival.”
    -
    Callindra woke with sore muscles but not as
bad as she had feared. The herbs Glarian had put in the bath must
have helped, although her healed leg was shaky and sent a thrill of
pain up her spine when she put weight on it. She stretched and felt
a strange wind blow against her skin. It was almost as though air
was moving from all sides of her room towards her at the same time.
She shivered, and not because she had slept naked. The dust whirled
around her in the predawn glow. Something was changing, and it did
not feel like a natural or welcome change.
    Her hair was tangled and she remembered how
it had gotten in her way the day before. On a whim she drew the
sword Glarian had given her and gathered her hair in a bundle at
the nape of her neck. The edge was good enough that she