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He knew he should ditch the et out while he could But his entire life had been a string of bad decisions He had no desire to slink back to Hastings with the same bad taste in his mouth he’d had since Leicester and D’Orsay killed his father

He thrust his body through the breach As he eed, volleys of wizard fla hirove of trees, then turned to look

All around hi withering fire toward the tear in the web

Jason considered his options If D’Orsay was smart (and he was), he would stay barricaded inside the hold until the all-clear D’Orsay’s hoard ofwith the Covenant that uilds

To the castle, then But best not to be noticed

Jason stuffed his fingers under his coat and pulled out a circlet of dull stone engraved with runes It was a dyrne sefa,secret heart, an amulet of power Despite the cold, it was hot to the touch, stea power froertips, he spoke a charh the woods and across the open meadow of the valley floor toward the castle Away froain But noas inited with power and determination

The meadoas studded ind-seared brush, powdered with fine, dry snow, and fissured with ravines The need towarred with the desire to peer about like a tourist

These enerations of warriors had been shed in ritual battles that allocated power to the Wizard Houses Here the warriors Jack Swift and Ellen Stephenson had fought the tournaed the power of the Roses

Here the sanctuary of Trinity was born

More than anything, Jason wanted to make the same kind of hting the ghyll as if it wereinto the sky Jason guessed he should be flattered at the intensity of the response to his trespassing It was like using a shotgun against a gnat Still the snow fell, glittering in iht struck it

Ahead looht have been hewn froardens surrounded it, littered with the skeletons of winter-dead plants, like the leavings of a failed fair-weather civilization

Squadrons of wizards charged up and down the valley,power in all directions Sohosts in hooded, snodered parkas Jason continued his stubborn ive up, assu their intruder had fled But no D’Orsay’s wizards gathered near the castle, for power Charreen vapor rolled toward him across thesoftly, Jason disabled the unnoticeable charic He extended his hand and tried to reproduce the char, or he si, relentlessly sing trees and stones and fleeing anihyll by et above the cloud Jason turned, sprinted for the Ravenshead, and began to clih to find handholds above his head, desperately hauling hi his feet into the imperfections that marred the stone face of the s would burst, he reached a ledge just below the Weirstone and shoved his body up and over He lay facedown in the snow until he caught his breath, then pulled hihyll beloas a sea of her on the surrounding slopes

Then the earthquakes began Thunder ruhyll, and the stones under Jason’s feet rippled like an out-of-control skateboard Thehim off Boulders crashed down froh on the slopes, bouncing past hi into the sea of mist at the bottom This was more than wizard ainst Ravenshead, his araze drawn back to the blue flame of the Weirstone

It looreen color of the deepest and clearest ocean With the stone so near, blood surged through his body, intoxicating hiers and toes Power battered hi bass froed crack opened in the solid rock face above hiash in the shadow of the stone S his skin and he squeezed his eyes shut to avoid being blinded

Gradually, the earth quieted and the stone dimmed Jason opened his eyes He crept forward and peered over the edge of the rock The greenup the slope

He sat back on his heels, eyeing the new- from under the Weirstone, kissed his face Maybe he could wor no other choice, he plunged into the opening

The air was surprisingly fresh to have been bottled up in the ht on the tips of his fingers, a makeshift lamp to show the way As he snaked back into the rock, it became clear that the quake had reopened a cave hewn out of the mountain in centuries past Scattered across the stone floor was evidence of prior occupation: the bones of large anis<ins class="adsbygoogle" style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-7451196230453695" data-ad-slot="9930101810" data-ad-format="auto" data-full-width-responsive="true"></ins>