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At least the black figure was gone, and in the company of one of her own, Wy
The dark-ski
This man was more than a sage. Chane's amazement succumbed to pain as Wy
Chane barely fumbled his sword back into its sheath. He was almost grateful for the Suman's arrival, as he certainly could not carry Wy
Chane knew conjury, though he was less skilled than a true mage. Nothing in that art could have raised Wy
Thaumaturgy's manipulation of the physical world had better possibilities, but he had never heard nor read of a thaumaturge who could turn a breeze into wind so precisely shaped and with such strength.
This sage had appeared suddenly, in just the right place and moment, barely an instant after the black figure had vanished.
Chane grew anxious—and frustrated with his own weakness—for there was nothing he could do. Had he left Wy
Chapter 14
Wy
She felt as if she had both a fever and a sunburn, and her right hand tingled uncomfortably. When she raised it, her hand and forearm were their normal tone. She remembered falling in the street, burning inside, as if the crystal's light had sunk within…
Wy
Colored blotches spun over her sight, and she blinked against dizziness. How had she ended up in her room, and where was the inky-colored majay-hì? And what had become of Chane after the crystal ignited?
She remembered him rushing toward her, but no more, and she had no way to find him. At a grunt and a whine from the room's far corner, her mouth dropped open.
The majay-hì lay curled on the floor near her desk. The tip of its bushy tail covered its nose, and its crystal blue eyes stared back at her.
"How did you get in here?" Wy
The dog's tall ears pricked at the sound of her voice. But when she swung her legs over the bedside, trying and failing to stand up, the majay-hì lifted its head with a rumble.
Wy
Then she realized she wore only her shift.
She sca
It looked the same as when Chane had offered it to her—safe and sound. She tucked it back into the cloak and turned about.
The majay-hì watched her intently, ears slightly flattened at her close proximity.
A pitcher of water and a clay mug rested on her bedside table. Ignoring the mug, Wy
The majay-hì let out a sharper rumble.
Wy
"It's all right," she repeated, but the words made no difference.
Finally the majay-hì rose.
Holding its place for a moment, it then padded one careful step at a time to the bowl. Lowering its muzzle to lap the water, it never took its eyes off Wy
She couldn't help a stab of regret that this four-footed stranger wasn't him—not by its color, let alone that it was obviously female. She remembered the pack that had helped her and Chap find Leesil's mother in the an'Cróan's Elven Territories. A yearling majay-hì had run among them.
This charcoal-colored female looked about the same age, if Wy
The strange female stopped drinking and lifted her head.
Wy
"It's all right," she said again.
The majay-hì shrank away with a twitch of jowl—but she cocked her long head as well.
And a moment passed.
The dog stretched her neck just a little, reaching out her nose, though she remained well beyond Wy
The same way Chap had sometimes studied her. And the way Lily had looked her over when they first met.
The young female huffed suddenly and took a step.
Wy
The majay-hì pack had also had a hard time accepting her. The grizzled black elder had barely tolerated her at all. Lily was the first to allow Wy
The young female's ears pricked up again.
Even Lily wouldn't have let Wy
The majay-hì finally extended her head in like ma
A barrage of memories erupted in Wy
Chap, his silver-gray fur glinting in shafts of sunlight lancing through the forest canopy…
Lily ru
Violet-tinged ferns in the underbrush whipping across them within the vast Elven Territories…
Wy
Hazy and blurry as they were, there was something very wrong about these memories. She'd never run with Chap and Lily—not in such a moment as she'd just remembered.
The young female cocked her head and huffed once.
Even with lingering fever's heat, Wy
Chap could evoke anyone's memories that he'd seen in them once before. He played upon people who were completely unaware of what he did. But he'd left the Elven Territories nearly two years ago.
And those memories had come to Wy
Only the majay-hì could do this. They communicated among their own kind through "memory-speak." But this wasn't possible for Wy